Woolly Bits - Everything Textile

not yet....

2012-01-27T13:15:00.000-08:00

over here spring officially begins on the first of february. and for a week or so it looked like it might already be in the air! unfortunately it didn't really stay sunny and nice - we had several days of drizzle and rain again and then we had snow over night! not too much and most of it was gone by the next day, but still - that put a damper on my "spring spirit"! it feels as if our winter was mostly grey and wet (not sure if that actually shows in the official data, maybe it's just me?) and I am fed up with grey. I want colour! maybe that's the reason why I chose some colourful yarns for a few small projects? I finished the black shrug (no photos yet, because I can't wear it and without anybody "in" it, it looks rather odd), though I am not sure about the size; it looks rather small. if it is too small - I'll just have to make another one, I have enough of the black merino anyway. but not now - black is too close to grey to be enjoyable just now:))

I am making piggies... woolly piggies that is:))

I use odds and ends of handspun - maybe not ideal for grubby kiddie fingers, but I wanted them to be colourful, so here they come. the yarn is a leftover of a batch I dyed for another project (colibri), but it's not enough for a scarf or hat. the pattern is easy enough, just two larger circles and a smaller one for the face. two ears, two legs (yes, I know - it's a two-legged pig:)) and a tail. a zip and a few buttons, that's it. the knitting is done really fast, the putting together takes much more time!

this is the base material for the second piggie, just needs putting together. I finished knitting the third batch late last night, but didn't take a photo yet... the "herd" will be shown, when all is finished:) I hope the three little boys like their piggie purses....

this is only the base material for one block of my quilt - I don't want to show more yet; but the upper layer is nearly done, just needs a border. the back will be fleece, that's easy to put together. all the blocks were done by hand, but the rest I'll do with the machine, or I'll never get those long seams done....

tomorrow we are going to have our spinner's meeting - this time the demo topic will be wet felting. not really my thing - I prefer drier techniques:)) I won't take my wheel this time, because it's our "AGM" meeting and we talk a lot at those. it's not worth dragging the lendrum all the way to and from the car - when all I manage to do is to spin 10 yards of yarn! I'll take my knitting instead and a few small patches, to make two small fabric balls with rattle. one new baby in the family and one not quite so new (but I think a 1 year old still likes a ball with bell inside....) - I think a few more baby things are called for! this time it's a girl - finally a "victim" for something frillier maybe?

off to finish some blueberry muffins ....

"pickings" of all kinds

2012-01-11T06:12:00.000-08:00

after the storm we had a few days back I checked the garden for any damage. nothing major happened here, though the ash trees dropped quite a lot of dead twigs and branches again. nothing unusual in that, we collect them regularly for firewood. but I also found that a lot of larger lichen tufts had blown off the trees. I try not to damage any on purpose because they grow so slowly, but when they blow down, they just rot away. and if we burn the twigs they grew on, I might just as well collect them - for dyeing. the tree lichen over here don't dye fabulous purples or pinks, but they do give nice light to medium brown tones. and the wool has a very special scent afterwards - a bit like a nice smelling medicine:)

I managed to collect two handfuls of them, which weighs practically nothing when dry. I need to be patient with those - and collect a good bit more during the coming year. I won't be able to dye a huge lot of wool with this, but it should be enough for maybe 2 or 3 skeins of sock yarn - eventually!

of course spring will bring a few other dyer's delights - one of them just starts to flower (see header pic). fresh gorse flowers give a lovely lemon yellow - but I need to wait until the shrubs are in full bloom. this makes them far easier to pick, because I just pick around the tip - and not in between the vicious spines that leave my fingers bloody - and tingling for days! another rule for gorse picking: don't choose a windy day:)

I also discovered that the pot with the cyperus esculentus "grass" had finally dried out in the tunnel. time to shake off the soil and pick the tiny brown tubers. somehow they always remind me of small brown animals....they are edible and taste nut-like, though they don't like our climate all that much and I have to grow them in pots. the leaves are rather unpromising - like coarse grass - and they don't like frost! which isn't a problem this winter, but killed nearly all my plants and tubers last winter:(

these are pickings of a different kind:) the white balls are sock yarn with silk. the dark purple is fine lace merino, which was on special offer - which I'd like to knit into a sleeveless lacy vest for myself. the two upper balls are sock yarn from opal - in van gogh colourways, which I like a lot. I also ordered a few more tunesian crochet hooks - can use them myself, but people might also try them out for themselves during my demo about tunesian crochet at the end of march....

our textile group project for this year is our very own exhibition in the "Museum of Country Life" in Castlebar. the exhibition will be in late summer/autumn, but we have to have everything finished by the end of may! the group has chosen the topic of "textile techniques past and present" (or something along that line:)) and we are trying to connect our modern projects to the exhibits of times gone by shown in the museum. I would like to take up the very old technique of sock knitting - and modernize it by chosing a special design with special materials. I will work the final project from handdyed (and most likely handspun) yarns, but I want to try out how my idea works with more readily available materials. I did already dye reds, pinks and rosy shades last summer, but didn't have the time to do greens and blues.

I also bought a darker shade - for a night sky maybe, and some grey/browns for walls or buildings. my plan so far is to design either a rose garden with an old wall/gate - or a garden and a round tower (typical for ireland and one stands in the vicinity of the museum) in the background. or maybe I should do part of the museum itself? the modern building stands inside an old park and also contains the original old buildings... I just have to make sure to use very fine yarn for the final project to get enough detail into a normal sized sock:) the problem now is to decide what exactly to make. luckily socks are knitted up quite quickly - I think with a larger project I'd need years to finish everything....

I also agreed to knit a lace shawl for an exchange. the shawl will be "in the pink" - which is perfect, because I had planned to knit that pattern, but don't really want it for myself to wear. the construction looks fun, even though all the instructions are written and not charted. normally I'd prefer charts, but I have to admit that with a pattern like this one charting it would take ages, and one cannot really ask a designer to do that, esp. when the pattern is given as a freebie... I spun a very fine pencil roving made from 70 % wool and 30 % silk. three skeins so far, but there's more if I don't have enough. the recipient Uli will paint it with the natural dye extracts she also offers for sale here.....

of course I am also still sewing away on the quilt - so I'd better get back to that one now!

bits and pieces

2012-01-05T11:53:00.000-08:00

I've been busy making new (and better fitting:)) slippers in knitfelt. and bingo - this time it worked! I used a different pattern this time, same material, and I even needed less, so that I could replace the "hoof covers" with proper slippers. I felted them once and let them dry and the size looks good, but because they are so small, I cannot try them on myself. those are the two pairs before felting - for giant feet obviously:

the ruler is a normal 12 inch/30 cm one! the upper slipper is supposed to be a size 42, the lower one size 36. sorry for the bad light, it's always raining outside and the flash has a life of its own:(

this is the larger (my) pair after felting. I had enough to knit a border around the opening for the smaller size, but not enough to do the same for this pair. I've experienced this before - I added a simple crochet edge - and it shrinks differently in the wash! it stays looser, which (with hindsight) makes sense, because normally crochet is denser than knitted stitches - and can't shrink as much. I knew that, it was just hard to estimate how many stitches to work to avoid having the hole too tight! I figured that it's better to have a bigger hole for the feet than one too small:) works fine for me, I just had to add some "anti slippage" goo to avoid accidents on tiles and timber floor!

I also made a pin cushion following a pattern I found in the interweave holiday gifts 2010. the original is done in fine wool, but I wanted to use cotton instead. this is handspun cotton in natural white and natural green. from the top....

.... and from the bottom. I do find it a bit weird that most of the pattern is visible from the bottom - and the fleur-de-lys looks odd the wrong way round! if I ever did that pattern again, I'd start later with the pattern, so that the tip of it is closer to the middle of the upper side...

I added the beads on a whim, because I thought it could do with a bit more colour. I stuffed it with wool, because the natural lanolin is supposed to keep pins from rusting. this one is going to be a gift - I don't think I need another pin cushion, even though it's nice and big with lots of space on it! but it was a fun knit anyway.

no time for diddling about now - I have to get going with that quilt! the main fabric is with birds, but it wasn't all that easy to find fabrics with birds in the right size and colour! I managed to find a few due to the help of quilting friends, but eventually I decided to quit hunting around further. I had some silicon stamps in stash, bought a few fabric paints to go - and started to print my own. the first batch wasn't that great, because I had to figure out how to add the right amount of paint, not too much to make blotches and not too little, to have the motif well covered... eventually I found out that I get the best results if I spread some paint evenly on smooth cardboard (glass or plastic would work, too), dip the stamp lightly into it and stamp - it doesn't leave smudges and gives clear results. you can even make multicolour motives by blending different paints only a little. it's fun to do - and I got rid of the leftover paint by playing mad artist on the last piece of fabric:) I just have to wait for them to "cure", iron over them - and start quilting. in the meantime I'll cut the rest of the fabrics to shape.

I also finally started on the black shrug made of handspun merino. I found a better pattern than the one I had planned in one of the Barbara Walker pattern collections and did the gauge and calculating yesterday evening. it's only a 4 row repeat, with purled wrongside rows, which makes it easy enough for tv knitting. I won't be able to sew on the quilt all day! off to dig out the cutter and mat now...

Happy New Year!

2012-01-01T09:34:00.000-08:00

it's hard to believe that christmas is over again. and the new year has begun! this year everything has been much easier, because we had the usual irish christmas weather: wet, windy and grey. we had to time shopping "expeditions" into town to avoid the heavy rains we had, but all in all this was much easier to do than trying to do everything on impassable icy roads! the forecast is for a cold and maybe snowy night tonight - but we'll be back to mild and wet again from wednesday onwards. I used to miss snowy christmas times, but after the last two winters we had - not anymore:))

the downside of all the rain is this: puddles everywhere, and before they have the chance to dry out we get more water from "upstairs"! all the tanks and bins are overflowing and there's no end in sight. the only places where the ground isn't muddy and squishy is under the old big ash trees - they use up so much water from spring to autumn that the soil beneath them is dry after the first 2 or 3 inches.... not even the soggy times we've had can saturate the soil underneath!

the veggie bed looks desperate, only the garlic stands like a field of little soldiers:) and there's still some kale nero di toscana, but it needs more time to regrow - and higher temps, too... and in the patch underneath the crab apple everest the allium "hair" is growing back again after mowing, despite the low temperatures.

inside a few christmassy bits are visible (apart from the tree and the textile decorations - I am not allowed to put them down before saturday!). normally I make one wreath for the door - but this year DH cut so much greenery that I just didn't have the heart to throw the lovely pine away.so I made a simple one with just a linen ribbon and two pine cone "layers" (they do look odd without the branch in the middle:) for the outside of the porch door....

and a more elaborate one for the door from porch to kitchen. I try to use a lot of different evergreens from the garden, but I only ever use my red ribbon and real holly, no artificial decorations allowed. I used to hang this in the kitchen, but because it's warm in there and relatively dry, the green used to shrivel and shed needles very quickly. now that it's hanging towards the unheated porch, the lovely scent is kept much better and the wreath looks good well beyond the 6th of january...which means it will probably hang there until it really starts looking shrivelled:)

by now I have put away all the textile christmas projects. the last embroidery I finished didn't make it into a christmas card, but I didn't want to put it away unfinished. (so next christmas I'll have one finished card extremely early :)) this wasn't down to a difficult pattern - just to lack of suitable materials.

I started out with the four denser areas in white stranded cotton. the plan was to add small silvery beads instead of crosses to the more open "darts" - but it turned out that the ones I had were a teeny bit to big for the aida I used; they started to push each other into odd directions, which made the whole star look messy:( I unpicked them and replaced them with one thread of DMC satin thread. it has a lovely shine, which unfortunately isn't visible in the photo. thanks to Renate/stickeule for the freebie pattern....

this year was no exception to my "I have to hurry to get everything done" christmas. I finished several other presents, but had no time (or light!) to take photos. so these are the few bits I did manage to shoot:

I had planned to give a subscription to a german magazine, but wanted to give something handmade with it. I bought a magazine holder made from timber, which I sanded and varnished. then I copied the title of the magazine on a long ribbon made of wool felt and embroidered the title in multicolour thread. it's only fixed on the back with one small seam, could be taken off for washing etc. not a sensational design, but I hope it adds a bit of personal touch to an otherwise rather impersonal gift.

I also made some slippers in knitfelt... well, I tried to make some. I bought two different yarns for this, both are made for that purpose and I followed the instructions to the dot. after knitting they did look rather odd, very high on the foot? but I have felted in the washing machine before, so I wasn't overly worried. again I followed the instructions in the pattern - but it just doesn't work. the length of the foot is ok, but you'd have to have hooves to make the rest of it fit:( the short rows leave a knob of knitting under the heel and the sides are far to wide, even after the second felting. back to the drawing board or rather back to another pattern. not sure if I'll have enough yarn though! if all else fails the recipient has to wait until I can order more.... and what do I do with the two very oddly shaped "bits" now? any ideas?

not all the gifts turned out to be faulty, though. I knitted Yolanda Teague's "Snapdragon mittens" and the pattern worked out perfectly. the main part is worked like any hand warmer with thumb. then stitches are taken up from the main part and some are cast on additionally to knit the mitten part, which is attached only on the upper side. the rest is a straightforward mitten shape, apart from the small piece of i-cord at the top. this forms the loop to attach the mitten, when it is worn flipped back.

the yarn is black alpaca with wool, quite warm - and deep black, even though it looks more like charcoal because of the flash... the cable pattern around the wrist was interesting to knit - I am sure I'll work that pattern again!

and today I finished my first pattern of the new year! well, ok, I cheated a bit:)) I made another pair of knitfelt slippers - in the hope that the new pattern fits better. so far it looks good, even though the unfelted slippers look gigantic! most of the second one was done yesterday evening, but eventually I had to stop because the countdown for 2012 started! I finished the tip and closed the heel with kitchener stitch this morning and they are "going for a walk in the washing machine" as we speak (yes, ok, I admit, I do wash whenever I need to, even during the holidays...). now I have to hurry to work on a quilt - I'll cut the paper tonight and can hopefully start the sewing tomorrow! high time, too - the next birthdays are creeping up!

I hope all of you had a good start into the new year - enjoy it as much as you can, even those days that don't run quite as smoothly as you'd like them to! and of course - always enough ideas and materials to play with:)

it's creeping up....

2011-12-04T11:00:00.000-08:00

christmas I mean! not that it feels like christmas outside -it's cold enough today, but windy and wet at times as well. and somehow - not christmassy, even though it's the 2nd advent sunday today! well, never mind how it feels, it's time for gift and card making etc. and I have been doing a few of the latter. the first one nearly made me go gaga - I should have known of course, but I wanted the motive for a mouse lover and grabbed it up against my better judgement. half stitches and aida don't go as nicely together as full crosses, but a few here and there are manageable. but aida, half crosses plus tiny backstitches - yuck, I can tell you, that will be the one and only time I do this project. the outcome is ok, but the backstitches took me nearly as long as the rest of the embroidery. and because I hate french knots with a vengeance, I took small beads for the black dots and the mistletoe berries...

after all the work on this one I had to make up some time with the next designs....

.. which is why this star is much more simple in design. a few crosses, normal backstitch and a few beads...

just like this one, but I think they loose a lot of their charm in the photo, when you can't see the sparkle of fabric and beads.

last week we had our final meeting in the spinners and craft group and as usual we did a secret santa. I received a mysterious box - roses at christmas?:)

not so, the contents are pure christmas colours after all! I thought they are for decoration, but no, they are actually meant to be napkin holders, made from felt. hm, not sure our household deserves something like napkin rings, but I can always hang them up as deco instead.

at the same meeting I stocked up on some merino fibres. I wanted to use more purples with the green tones I dyed last time, but was too lazy to start dyeing again. and then there is that scarf design I have in my head - with progressing colours from white via grey to black. that's the bags on the right....

I didn't make it to the knitting & stitching show in Dublin this year, but luckily one of the members of the group went - and was able to find a few goodies from Oliver Twists that I had asked for. some more multicolour embroidery threads; the one at the bottom is the mix of greens I used for the christmas SAL a few weeks back. actually it's much safer to send somebody else to that stall with a shopping list! every time I go there myself I buy much more than I should... but the colours are so inviting that it's hard to be reasonable!

of course in the garden it looks bleak most of the time now - no wonder in the constant miserable weather we're having. but bang in the middle of my veggie bed sits the crabapple tree "Everest". and despite the mucky weather it is still full with the tiny fruits! I picked and picked buckets full for juice, but eventually I ran out of space (and steam:)... pity about the apples, I thought and when I heard that somebody is using them like sloes to make a liqueur, I thought: why not? ok, the 800 g I picked didn't make a dent in the stuff that's still on the tree, but the result looks nice - and smells gorgeous! not for me though - another christmas goodie to go away eventually....

I plan to put a few of the best looking apples into the small bottles for decoration, but I am not sure if the rest will be edible. the sloes are too acidic and bitter for this and I assume the crabapples will be as well.

of course I've been knitting as well - nothing like a bit of that in front of the warm oven! this is a small giveaway project, a cowl. I used the same pattern I knitted for the slouch socks, which gives a wrinkly furrowed look to the cowl. I used smaller needles for the top and larger ones for the bottom, that's why it looks a bit odd in shape. but it feels quite nice around the neck and is long enough to cover v-necks or larger neck openings. they knit up quite qickly with needles size 4 mm and I was able to use exactly one ball (50 g) for each - couldn't stop myself, had to make two, because I had two balls of this yarn:)

spinning has been all purple these last few weeks - because I wanted to finish all those yarns dyed with logwood (they do stain the fingers a bit when spinning, but after washing the yarn this stops). all of those are from the same dye bath, several dips and everything is purple:) the lightest one on the left is alpaca; there is some wool/silk blend, some mohair, and the darkest one on the right is south american top. I wasn't sure what to use the yarns for, but after translating the article "handspun gallery" for the latest spinoff I decided that I will make a vest like the one featured - only much longer than shown. and I think to set of the purple a bit better, I'll spin some contrast colour, maybe a darker green? not sure yet, but nothing will happen on this front before christmas, so I still have plenty of time to get inspiration on that matter.

enough photos now - back to more knitting (mittens) and spinning (green silk/wool this time!)

special request - or "water management"

2011-12-03T07:15:00.000-08:00

Leigh from "5 acres and a dream" asked me if I could post photos of our water supplies. so here it goes:

if you come from a civilized country in the western world, chances are that you just open the tap in the house and out comes clear water. of course - this comes with a price tag, too! I don't know how it is in other countries, but I know that in Germany you pay more for waste water now than for the water itself. which makes perfect sense, because cleaning waste water is a huge effort and has to be paid for. in our temperate climate a lot of people seem to think that water is ubiquitous; there's enough rainfall, so why the high prices? but clean water is not a matter of course; it's not just "there" to be used up! and when we came over we realised quickly that we've been spoiled in Germany. over here in the countryside water supplies are private schemes. and let's just say that their running isn't always as efficient as it should be. the result is that some of the time the water in our area is not fit for human consumption. that is why we didn't get connected to that scheme! luckily rain is usually in plentiful supply in the west of ireland. so we installed tanks. small tanks, large tanks - all to be used to collect water for the house. we have two wells within walking distance, where we can fetch drinking water in canisters, but the rest of our water consumption is covered by rainwater.

the picture above shows the most important part of it (apart from the rain that is:). to use water inside the house you need at least some pressure. this is provided by height - as you can see, we have one large tank installed higher up than the main house (and there is a very large concrete tank underneath!). this gives the water enough pressure to flow inside the pipes easily - though you can see inside, when the level is lower, the pressure sinks! of course this tank doesn't hold nearly enough water for our needs. there are more:

those drums are at the back of the house. they are connected, so that the overflow is caught by the next drum - until they are overflowing. which has been happening a lot lately, because of the extremely wet summer and autumn. that isn't a problem however, because there is a small "cherry laurel forest" behind the house, which can take up all the overflow without getting too muddy.

there are more tanks alongside the shed. same here, tanks are connected to make the best use. just in the corner to the bottom left you can see a black pipe. this pipe is used to pump water from the tanks into the main tank higher up. the same set-up is on the other side to empty those thanks. the pump is installed inside the shed and runs on electricty. unfortunately, but no other set-up has been viable so far. and it needs to be inside, because the pump can freeze during winter, which we had to discover last year in the very cold spell:( the shed isn't heated and after 6 weeks of near permanent frost the water inside the pump turned to ice and the pump exploded - and had to be replaced.

this is another tank - which holds about 1000 l and is fed by the porch roof to the side of the house. the white wall to the right belongs to the tank in the next photo.

we also have two large concrete tanks. one is below the black "egg" in the first picture. and the second one is in this photo. from the outside it looks like part of the house - but the lower part in front is actually all tank. with a tap at the bottom - and a roof on top, which also feeds the black "egg", which is behind the white part.

of course there are drums close to every roof, never mind how small. this one is at the front porch (with gravel underneath to catch any overflow), but there are others for the greenhouse etc. all in all we have well over 15.000 l of water, if all tanks are full. since we started this system, we have never been out of water, even in drier years. of course, even this water isn't really "free". we don't pay money (apart from having well and rain water tested for pollution each year, the electricity for the pump and water filters, which need replacement every now and then) - but I can tell you that it takes quite a lot of work to manage it all. you have to keep the gutters clean, and of course the tanks need regular cleaning as well. you have to monitor the water level in the upper tank or you might run out of water just when you're all soapy in the shower:) but all in all we are lucky to have such good water - no need for softener or calgon etc. in our household! and of course, being a natural dyer - I value my very soft water as well:))

unfortunately there are still no proper water charges here, related to consumption of the user, at least in our area. you can still see leaking water troughs in the fields and nobody looking after them. farmers still spread slurry willynilly close to wells etc. it takes a long time to seep into some people's minds that having good water is their right - without doing anything for it!

not much time to blog

2011-11-24T10:43:00.000-08:00

more than a month without entries - where have the days gone? I have the intention of putting something up and woosh, the day is over again....

I haven't been lazy, I did finish my christmas -sal and added to my house-sal. I spun and dyed and knitted... but not everything can be shown in photos! just in case people read my blog without me knowing - it's closer to christmas now and presents are "growing" in every corner of the house....

this is the middle of my house-sal, it's so large that I can't show details and all the houses....I still have to add more detail here and there, but with christmas coming closer, I had to pack it away to get going with the more pressing things... I'll grab it again after the holidays!

4 close-ups, some my own designs, others changed from charts I found in my stash. as you can see the proportions aren't correct, but they aren't in the houses either - unless they make gigantic toys etc.:) I just made sure not to add winter impressions on one side of the town, when there are cherry blossoms on the trees in the churchyard:) my favourite are the three dogs (our three dogs, two of which we lost). one pees on the lantern, one chases a cat - and the last one, which looks a bit odd, is Timmy, our sheep dog....

the next thing I finished, or rather nearly finished, is the christmas -sal from the same designer. I changed a few things, mainly due to the fact that I miscalculated my yarn requirements and had ordered only one skein each. in fact I just made it with the red, only a few cm left. I changed the colour of the writing, and Renate, the designer was kind enough to change the german title into an english carol - thanks for that, Renate! (she also made one for french embroiderers.....what a service!) I added mohair and wool embroidery threads for the coat, beard and angel's wings. and I added beads and put beads instead of thread in for the showflakes... at the bottom I tried a multicolour yarn from OT, which worked rather well, too. all that's missing now are loops for hanging and wadding plus fabric as background and frame.

the angel in detail - I think the fluffy wings are just about visible. I used the madeira lana yarn again, which can be brushed to show fluffy fur coats - or angel wings:)) the small snowflakes are done with mill hill sead beads, but the few larger ones are silver-lined rocailles - not enough of the white ones ordered...

same for santa - a mohair beard and the coat is fur lined as well - it's so cold where he lives!

I did some more dyeing, when I saw that the rhamnus berries had ripened, apparently without the birds noticing. I picked as many as I could and dyed on wool, after I left them to "pickle" in vinegar for a few days. the yellow is from another dye...

I also spun up all my purple logwood dyed fibres, so that now I have a heap of them, ready to knit into a shawl - rectangular I think. and I made a few inserts for christmas cards, some ornaments for secret santa exchanges - and started on a knitted pin cushion, another giveaway. but in this weather and season photos can be difficult to take - it's either grey or wet or windy or dark - or everything together. and in those rare few sunny dry hours we get - there are many other things to take care of! well, maybe in the next entry:))

crabapples anyone?

2011-10-19T10:59:00.000-07:00

I could open a shop - just with crabapples, at least for a while:)) I am picking and picking and making juice, but the trees don't look as if I picked much at all. if I had a very small garden with only one tree in it - it would have to be the crab apple "Evereste"! in spring you get a cloud of white-pink flowers - and towards autumn the small apples shine red in the sun (if there is any that is:)). I wouldn't recommend eating them, they are small and extremely acidic - but they are brilliant for juice or a jelly, pinkish, when the apples were allowed to ripen fully. ok, you can get a darker reddish jelly if you use "Red Sentinel", and it looks really pretty - but the apples are the size of cherries and you'd need a whole orchard full of them to get enough apples:))

another two buckets full, one only evereste, the other has another variety at the bottom, looks similar, just less red - forgot the name, we have quite a few of them:)) golden hornet has yellow apples, as the name says, but they are quite early and this year they have some sort of scab. don't look terribly inviting, so I just use the nice ones - choosy:)) the rest of the apples are a few eaters, very small, nothing much on the tree, there never is (bad location I think!). the rest of the green ones are cider apples, I'll use them to make more juice, by steaming them....the small bucket in front contains ornamental quinces, which are extremely hard and quite small - but have a sensational scent and make a lovely jelly or jam, if you can be bothered to push the pulp through a sieve. I usually add cinnamon and or cloves - yummy for winter! the small brown "things" represent our pear harvest.... no words necessary?:))

when the weather is reasonable (we only had a few light showers today!) I am outside, but if not - I'll keep the dye pot going. remember the not very exciting yellow I managed with alderbuckthorn berries in cold vinegar? the one at the bottom... I thought I'd give it another try, picked a handful more of the berries and heated it all up with some water, too. I added alum mordanted wool - and bingo, I got a lovely green, which was very hard to catch with the digicam. it's bright and "shiny", if wool can be called that. at the bottom of the upper left pic you see the original yellow - didn't like it, put it into the pot again - at least it's green now and not another not very nice yellow:)) not the colour you can get on silk (right), but better than nothing. anyway, this was it from the rhamnus tree - I hope for a better harvest next year!

I also spun more purple - see the header picture. it's half wool, half silk, dyed with logwood on alum... on the knitting front I managed a bit of progress with the Moiraine scarf, but not much to show really. and I did a few "fillings" on my house hanging.... not terribly productive but all the "topping and tailing" of the tiny apples takes quite some time!

foggy autumn days

2011-10-14T10:31:00.000-07:00

you can see above how our autumn days look - and have been looking for weeks. everything feels damp, even though we have temps of about 12-15 deg. C - quite mild - nearly (irish) summer temperatures:))

but at least the yucky weather means that I don't have to have a bad conscience about the lack of gardening progress. instead - I knit... or spin, or do other textile things I like! this is my take on the hitchhiker idea, though a bit short for a scarf. quite soft though and I think it can be worn with a shawl pin as closure to keep it from slipping off. not at all my colours, it's going to go into the giveaway box....

I also finally finished and ironed my small houses - all that's missing now are a few trees and other bits in between. and a "frame" made of fabric of course, as I don't like picture frames for my embroidery all that much. it's quite large - I hope it'll still fit the wall space I made it for!

the last few weeks haven't seen all that much spinning, but I did manage two skeins of alpaca, dyed with logwood leftovers. I still have a lot of darker purple to spin; not sure what to use it for, but I still want to make a revontuli shawl - and the yarn might fit the bill.

I still have some pre-mordanted tops in storage, so when I picked the few ripe rhamnus berries I could find I remembered that I read somewhere about berry dyeing with vinegar. essentially most of the berry dyes are supposedly light faster, when soaked in vinegar. I put in berries and vinegar and added some wool top - in the hope that some of the deep purple liquid might attach.... hm, disappointment - no purple, just yellow. the tones on the left are done with ripe rhamnus berries on silk, with a normal dyebath, simmering in water etc. not really worth the bother of using all that vinegar, I'd say. well, now I know - if I have a better harvest next year again, I won't waste the berries for this!

I also needed a simple knitting project for those evenings, where I am too tired for complicated cables and such. I stumbled across a new KAL - the pattern is called Moiraine. this is only a test for now. I would like to use the pattern for a narrow silk scarf in dark blue (handspun), but I need to see how it looks before I start to go off buying expensive beads etc. the yarn is nearly black (with purple parts) sockwool, dyed with logwood, and some lustre beads from my stash. the patterns seems easy enough, but I think my beads could be a tad bit bigger....

last but not least the food: elderberries are quite scarce this year (again), but I managed to pick enough for two large jars of juice. I still have two from last year, which should be enough to fight colds during winter with a hot "elderberry grog" and maybe a bit of elderberry brandy as well.... nice gift for christmas, I found last year:))

my first socks ever!

2011-10-09T16:28:00.000-07:00

no, I didn't just finish my first pair of handknit socks.... I stopped counting a long time ago - but I received a very nice surprise package last week! in it were the first handknitted socks I received! ever! most people probably think that as a knitter I can make them myself - and of course I can (and do). but it is so much nicer to receive them ready to wear like this:

very colourful - I could probably see my feet in the dark with them on:)) I would never wear a cardie, sweater or any other larger garment in those shades, but for socks I love bright colours! they are fun and I only wear woollen socks in my Birkies anyway, which are not exactly the most elegant outfit to have. and even though it's not terribly cold here yet, they are very snug and comfy to wear. and they fit:)) which doesn't come as a surprise as the knitter, my oldest niece, has the same shoe size I have!

Sandra also sent me a little notebook, handmade - covered in purple paper, because I "complained" in her blog that I would prefer one in purple - hint, hint:)) thanks Sandra, though it's much to nice to be used.......

in this weather, drizzle or rain, some wind, grey all the time - there has been no progress in the garden, but I cannot bring myself to weed or dig in the constant rain:(( good thing I am not prone to depression! this weather is really going on everbody's nerves by now! someone talked about a golden october some time back - unfortunately they didn't say where exactly we can find one!

on the other hand I've been working on several projects inside. I am still knitting the Snapdragon flip-top mittens from Ysolda Teague, in black alpaca - the first christmas present. and I had planned to work her Damson shawl next, most likely with the pink/black silk/alpaca yarn I made recently. it has a pretty shape, but not too much pattern, so that the two-coloured yarn won't take away anything from a more complicated project. a while back I bought both of her "whimsical knits" e-books and I am quite happy with many of the designs; they are pretty without being fussy - but not too simple either.

but - unfortunately I got waylaid by something else... I stumbled across my "spring" handspun, a soft blend of merino, silk and soysilk, naturally dyed last summer. it literally fell down in front of me, when I was looking for something else - so I couldn't just ignore it:)) I am not really all that keen on knitting patterns that have been going through pretty much every blog - but I decided to give a "hitchhiker" my own spin. the yarn is quite chunky, so I decided to make larger steps on one side, a kind of giant sawtooth edge, while the other one is smooth (in fact I made it even smoother by knitting an attached i-cord:)).... my scarf is shorter, and more crescent shaped - unfortunately I couldn't take a photo, because the weather was wet all day today and yesterday - and the light was dysmal inside:(( I'll take one as soon as we have a few dry hours (or minutes?)

and there are my little embroidered houses - I have to do just one more to fill a hole on one side. I did the school and nearly finished the toy store, all I need now in my little town is a fashion shop:)) and a few bits and pieces in between - bikes, dogs, statues etc... I'll take a photo once all the main houses are done - and might just start the Christmas SAL in between, urghs... I know, I shouldn't, but just now this is very tempting - probably because of the ugly weather! or maybe because I heard a radio program today, lyric fm, the irish station for classics and jazz. I didn't believe my ears when all of a sudden this afternoon I heard a swing rendition of "oh tannenbaum". honestly! not quite what I expected in mid-october, but hey - we're just 10 weeks away!!

more finished "bits"

2011-10-01T09:02:00.000-07:00

I finished a few other things - first you have projects in progress everywhere - and all of a sudden there are cleared out corners that need to be filled again:))

this is the test knit of a "spinning bag" - pattern available (german and english) via ravelry. I had no problems with the pattern, there were a few minor alterations, but nothing major. I didn't use the given yarn but took some lambswool I dyed myself. normally I'd knit this yarn with needle size 3.5 to 4 mm, but I've used it in felting before and found that the texture is nicer, when knitted on larger needles to give room for shrinkage. I used 5 mm needles - and when the bag was finished it looked more the size of a sailor's rucksack:)) I have never been tighter with any yarn! to finish the i-cord around the opening I had to use the dark wool for the handle loops and cut off the leftover yarn from the cast-on! I had just enough left to sew in the end, not an inch to spare:) I also ran tight with the darker brown for handles, so instead I used a third colour, also naturally dyed. this one was done with tree lichen, a colour I dyed many years ago. it's unbelievable, but the smell of the lichen is still recognizable after so many years and 2 washing cycles at 60 C.!! which proves that natural dyes are quite wash proof! and gives the bag a nice "psychedelic"scent:))

this is a close-up of the handles - I used i-cords to sew around the handles - the original pattern used small rectangles. you can also see the i-cord along the opening.

this is the end result - after felting in the washing machine twice at 60 deg. C. with a few added towels, but without washing powder! it's always a risk to use this, when felting naturally dyed yarns, because very often the colour change dramatically! usually still nice, but not always so - I didn't want to run the risk of ending up with mustard/grey yarn colours:)) the light sandy brown was dyed with the flowers of NZ flax (2nd bath), the darker brown was dyed with cheap irish tea. and the handles with lichen... I enjoyed the knitting of Bea's pattern - thanks for letting me do the test knit!

I am thinking of using this pattern again - this time for a smaller bag. I'd use sock wool and instead of felting the end result I'd knit the whole thing in double knit. this would avoid the constant crossing of threads while knitting and give a stable lining, too. of course it would take more time, but still - I like the pattern a lot and think it's worth the work. alternatively I had the idea to make a "fibre bag" instead - similar basic pattern, but instead of spinning wheels I might make my own chart, with a lot of different fibre names plus maybe a handspindle here and there? we'll see.... probably not before christmas though!

after finishing the two letters I also had to keep working on my houses in x-stitch! the designer of the SAL, Renate, was kind enough to make a post office esp. for me, I just changed colours a bit and added a post box. the weird thing the subconscience can do: when I checked the post office recently - there was in fact a poster in the window with some strong orange around! I chose the colour in the window totally at random - or so I thought!! it's not an exact replica of our local post office, but it comes pretty close, even though Renate has never seen the real one....

I have a few more to go, right now I am working on the school. after this I have a fashion boutique to do and maybe also a kitchen supplies shop, depending on how much empty space I have left on the fabric. I did the zoo already - and when those houses are done I have to add "fillings", small charts that fill the spaces between the houses. I am still undecided about adding a small cottage such as ours.... but if I don't finish soon, I won't be able to take part in her christmas sal - which I definitely want to do.

it's a shame though - I checked my supplies for this and found fabric in different colours. but not enough christmas green and christmas red embroidery yarn - can you believe it, with all those boxes full of threads.... off to find an online shop for embroidery supplies....

I finished the batch of black alpaca/pink silk, I should have plenty of yarn for a shawl; haven't decided on a pattern yet, but it's very soft and silky and I am tempted to knit with it soon!

I also finally finished the blend I made for the spinning demo I did in july - which leaves the lendrum empty and ready to go for a bit of christmas spinning:)) the yarn on the left is a blend of lambswool, silk and some soy silk, all dyed naturally - plied with a commercial tussah silk. I like the soft muted colours, but they definitely won't be for me - I can't wear those autumnal shades or I look gravely ill....

to avoid an empty bobbin on my wheel I started with some logwood dyed lilac alpaca on the louet - I just have to decide which bigger project (apart from the green/yellow cuddly blanked...) I'll knit next!

done!

2011-09-23T07:10:00.000-07:00

I finished the second letter of the bunting - the R. just in time - a day to spare:)) well, at least I didn't have to do a night shift, wouldn't be the first time either... though I shouldn't glee too early - might still happen when I am doing the christmas presents:))

when you look closely (probably not visible in the pic) the yellow of the iron-on transfer is still visible in a few spaces, but I hope we'll always hang the finished bunting high enough so that people can't push their noses right onto the embroidery:))) taught me a lesson though: don't go over a drawing with another iron-on pen; make a new pattern to avoid that mess!

the little dots are all beads, though in hindsight I don't really know why I wanted to do the little clover in golden beads. but I am not taking them off again now! after all this embroidery I am going back to my houses in x-stitch for a while, because I want to finish this before it ends up as a UFO in some corner again. and also, a christmas sal is going to start soon, hopefully enough motivation to get the wall hanging done as well.....

I also finished the first skein of black alpaca with pink silk and I do like how it turned out. it's not too flashy, the black dones down the shiny pink nicely. I will have to spin another bobbin full of alpaca though, because the fine silk runs so far. not sure if even the second bobbin will use up all the silk, but I still have enough, so I'll end up with a nice long yardage for a bigger project in the end! any ideas? it's nice and soft, so very wearable against the skin.....

we had an exceptionally bad summer this year:(( a lot of rain and cool weather pretty much from may onwards - and here you see the result. this is the river glore, which flows into the famous river Moy eventually. it runs through the valley downwards from our house and normally only has about 2/3 of the water it has now! or less in a dryer summer! it is very wide just now - too wide for me to reach any of the lovely reed flowers I usually pick there at this time of the year:(( I managed less than 100 g - not enough for any serious dyeing. luckily I visited another spinner last week and we managed to pick a good lot more along one of the roads or there'd be no "reed green" for me this year. as it is I have 3 skeins of sock wool, one in the brighter green, two slightly more muted - and 300 g of "spring green" south american top. all still damp, so pic will follow. I do like the reed greens together with purples and lilacs - so I'll be mixing both, my reed dyes and some of the logwood dyes I did a few weeks ago.

first I have to finish the leftover on my Lendrum though - a blend of wools and silk, in salmon and greenish tones. tomorrow is our spinner's meeting and I'd like the wheel free to start something new. because I have several things started on both wheels I had to take the black alpaca off the louet bobbin into a ball to ply with the silk, not ideal, because I had to give it a bit of twist to work with the tighter spun silk. I had to work out kinks several times and I prefer to ply from the bobbin/lazy kate!

now, to decide which fibres to take for spinning tomorrow:)) spoilt for choice! maybe I should finish the fine silk/wool blend for a lace project? or should I grab some of the newly dyed fibres? anyway, I have to pack most of the dyed bits to bring for the group - which will give my room a very slightly emptier look (if that's possible:)) than before.... next week will start with a lot of sewing - I have to get a "door" curtain done and one for a small window. and the tweed/fleece sofa blanket - finally! and a box full of other things - some embroideries that need a backing, a small wall hanging for up here and so on... this of course would empty the heaps of stash much more efficiently than the fibres could, but with all the rushed embroidery going I didn't want to start dragging the sewing machine out as well. a studio with space for everything - hach, that would be very nice!!

have a nice weekend - hopefully with time for your own textile endeavours.

a bit of progress....

2011-09-18T11:21:00.000-07:00

.. and a few more things started:))

I finished my first piece of bunting, with the stylized letter O. a lot of twisting and turning to follow the circular lines - I think the R will be easier to do! and faster hopefully, because the due date would be next saturday. nobody is ripping my head off if I am a bit late, but I find it rather embarrassing to set a date for the rest and not finish in time myself.

this is the R - I painted the green with textile paint, it would be too time consuming to fill it in with embroidery. actually the few dark flower-like shapes in the O were done the same way... when I have finished the embroidery, I'll add small beads on the outside. my first idea was to make very fine i-cords and fix them as three-dimensional lines. but the silk yarn is simply too fine to knit with, so I'll embroider along the lines.

I was going to show you one more finished thing - but for some reason the picture does not want to be pulled up here:(( ok, I finished some things, but as some of you said: there's always something unfinished around! our group was contacted by a farmer with milk and jacobs sheep, if someone wanted his fleeces. don't ask - I know it was madness, but here are some of them.... there are several more boxes underneath and 2 large bin bags full in the porch. I hope I'll be able to hand some of them along to another spinner, but even so, there's a lot of washing and drying and carding in those boxes:))

so, here is another finished "item", part of a silk brick I dyed with cochenille. it's not quite as startling bright in daylight, and I am going to fill another bobbin, this time with black alpaca, to ply the silk with. or not - I am not quite sure yet if I'll like the strong contrast. anyway - I need the bobbins free soon, so one more tick on the list!

I also received a nice present in the mail (can't show you some of the other things - I ate most of the liquorice:)). the maker was a bit late for my birthday - but all is forgiven, as it is a really nice cover for the hot water bottle she sent me earlier this year (because it was cold and my birthday still far away:)). it's nice woollen felt, decorated with a patchwork band of "flying geese"... to pretty to be used really, but luckily washable! winter can come now - I am prepared:))

in the garden department there are a few more finished bits - all plums are used up, the picked rosehips de-seeded and the raspberries - eaten. I hope I'll have a few days without foody jobs, but very soon the crab apples will be ready and it's time to do a lot of juicing!

everything is half way....

2011-09-12T07:19:00.000-07:00

I am in one of those stages, where everything is halfway finished - or unfinished, depending on view! no finished projects to show, just bits and pieces. I am working on the spinning bag, half way up. I am also knitting on my green/yellow cuddly blanket - halfway done. my embroidery is - you guessed it, halfway done. even in the garden - the beds are only half done:(( we've had a lot of showers last week and over the weekend and the ground is muggy, too muggy to work on properly. I am still working my way through some pickings, the plums I should finish today - but with the crab/cider apples we didn't even start yet! never mind, we've had so much wind during last night and today - that maybe everything came down by itself, we'll see.

anyway, I did take a few pix of halfway jobs:

this is the first part of bunting I need to put letters on. this one is the O, the other one (which I didn't even start:(() will show an R. eventually all pieces together will form the word "Connacht Textile Crafters" - we'll put the full bunting up at shows, meetings etc.; our group project for this year. I better hurry though, 24th of september is the meeting date - by which time both pieces should be finished..... all the blue lines in the center have to be embroidered, though I managed the middle last night. the R will suffer from serious neglect or rather a very diminished design, I fear!

I am further than halfway through my dye sessions - but I still have to use up the logwood, so there's another halfway project: I tried to take pix all day, but only managed to catch the right colours at night, with a flash in the dark - go figure... as a fan of purples this is just up my alley and I am seriously put out that I have to give most of this away! I'll keep the silk/wool on the right and the shiny looking mohair in the middle though, the fibres were mine. the shiny blob on the left will be a problem - ramie, lovely colour, but unfortunately a lot of logwood bits are stuck in the top:(( I only strained the batch for the rest of the fibres - idiotic, I know!

these are some of our plums, halfway eaten as cake - the rest will go into the freezer:))

same for tomatoes - I picked quite a lot yesterday - and they taste really nice. I hope the rest of the lot will ripen, before the weather goes cold. we are not great fans of green tomato relish here!

tada - and this is the one thing, where halfway doesn't apply - we finished the fruit salad all in one session, no leftovers - that must fall under magic vanishing of edibles? a bit of everything, blueberries, raspberries, grapes, etc... - a yummeeeh vitamin bomb:))

a bit of colour in a grey summer

2011-09-03T13:12:00.000-07:00

the dyeing workshop in our textile group took place at the end of july - and I still didn't finish all the dyeing of the leftovers! I am nearly through though, just yellows to come, with chamomile and st john's wort. I had planned to wait until I have finished it all to take pix, but given the fact that the forecast is for more rain to come, I took the opportunity of some sunshine today. well, I tried at least! we had a cup of tea outside, I put out a cloth, arranged all my skeins of sockwool - and a shower came.... it's like someone is sitting on a cloud, watching me and just opening a valve as soon as they see me outside!:))

anyway, after a bit of running about and repeating the same, here are the results so far:

this is all sockwool, which I pre-mordanted with alum. the colours are (from left) tea, tea 2nd bath, several brazilwood and madder baths, some overdyeing on yellows and beiges with madder, goldenrod (yellow) goldenrod with iron, black hollyhock flowers, cochenille and cochenille with iron. the small skeins in the middle are naturally beige tussah silk.... there is definitely a lack of blue and real green, but there was no time to plan for indigo dyeing as well.... and some of the very dark cochenille dyes were snatched up by members at the meeting! dito for the first two madder baths and the alkanet....

I also had some small skeins of a rather scratchy pure wool, but only a few were left: brazilwood, madder, tea and the darker brown is henna. the dark grey is alkanet, but there was apparently no purple pigment left:( the brown skeins on the right are a weird stuff: it's the same tussah silk as above, but for some reason the yarn doesn't take some of the colours at all (the only ones that really took were cochenille and brazilwood). there is no colour on those skeins from the henna - they should look like the brown skein on the left! and no, I didn't forget to mordant them.

I also bought some fibres for the spinners in the group, there are leftover (from commercial spinning) tops of half wool (soft)/ half silk.

the lilacs on the left are from leftover cochenille, the grey/green is black hollyhock (I showed that one before), the yellow and green above are goldenrod and goldenrod with iron, the strong red is brazilwood and the rest below is one of the last madder dye baths.....

more spinning fodder, this time on south american top: dyes as above, the dark brown in the middle is henna, the bluish bottom right is black hollyhock on mohair (my own) and the darker pink on the left is cochenille on mohair. if I had know years back that you can get such a lovely squirrel colour with hair dye (henna) I wouldn't have had to ask my MIL to run from wool shop to wool shop to find a suitable yarn for a baby sweater I made at the time:))

the small batches on the bottom right are silk briks, one with madder, the pink/purple with cochenille (I have more of that, but started spinning this one already)... and on the bottom left side you can see, why dyeing veggie fibres with natural dyes just with alum as mordant - isn't terribly successful. the colours stay pastel, even strong brazilwood or cochenille baths end up this light! on the other hand you can get lovely effects, when you put both wool/silks and ramie like this into the same bath and spin them together.... I love spinning ramie!

this stuff has been dyed years back! the light beige is done with dried walnut skins, but it wasn't the first batch in the dye bath. the darker skeins are dyed with tea. the yarn is a lambswool singles I bought 10 kg of years back,when I started dyeing in earnest. I have dyed pretty much all colours on this, knitted I don't know how many sweaters with it - and still have skeins left. it's reasonably soft, dyes well, knits well and even felts well - and this is why I chose to use it!

I must suffer from acute boredom, because when I saw this:

and read that the designer is looking for a few test knitters, I couldn't resist and volunteered... there are 3 different wheels on it, but the one in this pic looks like my lendrum:)) well, ok, could be my louet, too - but I like the pattern and look forward to the stranded knitting! I need a bit of a lift from the green and yellow blanket, I think.... it's not a gigantic project anyway. I was tempted to use sockwool for this, but I think I'll go for a chunkier yarn for the first batch, and one that felts, too! I might make a second one - to hang from the wheel, for nostepinne, fibres, inchgauge etc... I just have to remember to use fairly chunky needles as this yarn shrinks quite a lot in the wash... the weird thing: I have so much wool, but had quite a hard time to find two suitable yarns in the right colours (with some contrast!) and enough of it! the only other natural (and felting) yarn I found was my merino/possum blend - and I didn't really want to use such an expensive stuff for a bag....

it's not all fibres here though - yesterday I saw buffalo mozzarella for the first time in the shop - and just had to snatch up one for our lunch today: the classic tomato/mozzarella basil with some nice sourdough bread, yumm!!

have fun over the weekend - I will:))

today's the day!

2011-08-30T11:27:00.000-07:00

it's done - we survived 9 long weeks of summer holidays:) if you don't have a moping teenage son at home, you might not know what I mean - I do wonder how we'll manage next year, with 3 months of summer hols looming:(( who's idea was it anyway???

so today is the first day of 5 long years in secondary school for DS. everything is fresh and new and I hope he won't only suffer with homework and such, but have some fun as well! we did have several shopping trips for this, new uniform, new school bag, heaps of books and all the rest that is needed to learn arithmancy and ancient runes (or in modern life business studies and all the rest of the stuff:)). look at this mountain (13 kg!) of knowledge:

I wish it was all in his head - a lot of knowledge he has to cram in! on the other hand - I love new books of all kinds and wouldn't mind another few years in school! maybe not with maths, I could do without that:)) but the rest I'd have no problem, as a matter of fact I already read through bits and pieces of this stuff!

of course you need more than just books and a bit of paper: we bought heaps of pencils, rulers, a compass etc.... in fact it's so much that he'll have to bring in two school bags tomorrow to get it all in! luckily they do get a locker to keep some of the stuff....

in the weather we've had all summer everything is "upside down" - we have strawberries now, but only had a handful during strawberry season... those are supposedly "decorative", but they don't only sport pink flowers, they also produce strawbs.... we'll see about the taste! I also "found" 4 small plantlets of "mara de bois" in an overgrown bed, which I put into pots to plant them out again, when the bed is freshly "made"...

of course we do have some seasonal berries - my one (and so far only) blueberry bush has ripening berries, not a large amount yet, but it's only from last year, so I was quite happy with the result.

in the header pic you can see "bad weather" coming closer... I had high hopes for a real thunderstorm - but unfortunately this is something that doesn't happen often here. we usually only get a bit of thunder (I seem to miss the lightning beforehand:(() and rain. and funny clouds - shortly after the thunder had passed we had this formation in the sky, which looks like somebody's tea kettle boiling wildly:))

this is the leaf of an "eddoe" - an edible tuber that I found in the supermarket last year. I had plans to boil it, but then never did - until I noticed sprouts coming out of one end. I decided to plant all 4 tubers, and they all grew well for a while - in the glass house! they even kept their leaves during winter, but eventually the two in one of the pots died. this one has been in a pot outside since may and the leaves look big and healthy. they are very smooth and the water forms pretty beads after every rain....

on the textile "front" I am still working on the green/yellow cuddle blanket I started months ago - because I just couldn't decide on another larger project after the grey sweater! I wanted to knit a tunic for myself, but the yarn is fine and it would take time to work on it - and christmas, even though not exactly "looming" yet, is coming closer! and with it the need for presents... I think I'd better start on one of those to avoid a bad rush later in the year.... I did however fnish the next house, this time it's a "pub", which I had to rename for a pub in our town. pity though that our "hazel" doesn't have such nice colours, never mind such pretty flowers! the last pic is a sunflower I embroidered for a birthday card; if we don't have a proper sun I'll just embroider one myself:)

film inspired

2011-08-25T06:07:00.000-07:00

of course I didn't just knit silly birds and such - there is always at least one larger project in the making, or tv would mostly be unbearable:))

a few years back DS asked for a new sweater and chose his own colourway. I was naive enough to indulge him, and even spun the yarn for it. we didn't have hard winters at the time, so he only wore it once or twice. then the heating in school failed, the kids were asked to wear something warm - and when he came home he swore to me that he wouldn't wear that sweater again! apparently some of the kids sniggered about the colours - and the fact that his friend and his friends' sister liked it didn't change anything! the sweater has been "in storage" since then, but of course it's now far too small anyway....

of course the one thing I realized was: I'll never waste my time for something like that again:)) so when a new sweater had to be made, it was to be from commercial wool. when the new hp film came out the immediate reaction was: I want this sweater... ok, in lovely "colourful" - grey... teenagers: they want to be special, but "invisible" at the same time? well, anyway, after a bit of a hunt I found a grey yarn, not too fine, but not too chunky either. it's mostly wool, but machine washable (puh, what a relief!) - and most importantly it doesn't itch!

this is the result:

not a spectacular piece, but at least you can hide in a throng of people and nobody will see you:) and it was perfect tv knitting; not too boring but doable without looking much...it's also large enough to hopefully last another year or two - because I am sure that he will want more "make me invisible" sweaters for some time to come....

there was enough yarn leftover from the kg of yarn I bought to make two hats. at first I just knit my standard: 2k/2p rib at the bottom and stockinette on the top. you can imagine what it looks like, no pix necessary... but I still had more than 2 balls left, so I thought I'll give something else a try. I started with double knitting a while back, but so far I'd only done straight up pieces. I knitted the same rib, long enough to double it up when in use. then I worked 1 k and 1 p into each stitch, but with two balls of yarn. I worked double knit straight for a while - and hunted out how to make decreases online:) hurray for the internet! unfortunately I also came across several double knitting books, which I "had" to put on my christmas wish list....

this is the top of the hat - looks like a normal one? yeah, that is how it is supposed to look:)) if I hadn't made one mistake in crossing the yarns it would be fully reversible - though as it is DH and DS weren't able to see the mistake... this is now the "cold winter" hat, the other will do for the normal irish temperatures:)) one thing I noticed though: it would probably have made the job easier if I had used two different colours! using both of the same makes it more difficult to see which one works the front and which one the back.... the decreases are actually very simple to work, not fussy at all....

I also finished my weekly dose of embroidery - the original was called hair dresser, "friseur" in german. only, the translation was too long for the sign! and the irish form was - weird:)) so eventually I decided to give it the owners name - not that I know one named Tessa, but a lot of the irish salons are named for their owner, so it fits... those are the "art nouveau" colours I mentioned in the last post:)) the weirdest thing was that the next design, the village pub, has some of these colours in the original! mental waves sent over to germany??? which of course means that I had to put the pub somewhere else, not too close to the salon....

of course life isn't all knitting and embroidery - you have to look after your stomach, too:)) the first plums were ready - those are small ones from an ornamental plum. small, but very tasty! unfortunately we have to wait now for the real plums, because we already finished the first batch - sheer greed:)) well, if all else fails, we just have to make waffles with cherries or a few muffins or whatever else will take our fancy this weekend! school starts next tuesday and I promised to "celebrate" the last holiday weekend with something "cakey"....

some finished business...

2011-08-21T07:39:00.000-07:00

slowly but surely the mountain of damp, but not yet dyed yarns and fibres has diminished. I'd like to show you photos, but every time I think I can heap the mountain of fluff onto the outside table - it starts raining again:(( or rather, by the time I've used the dry hours for gardening etc. - it does. but it needs the work now because very soon autumn will be here and it will be too late for many of the jobs! yesterday I had a lot of washing and after checking the weather forecast I decided that it's ok to leave it outside... tough luck, it's ok alright, but only if you like continued rinsing on the line:(( well, let's hope that the rest of the forecast hits it a bit closer:))

I did finish a few things, some houses in my embroidered village, a bird called Emma - and DS's HP sweater in grey.... so as not to be too bright:)) photos of the latter will follow as soon as I've managed to convince the new owner to put it on for about 30 seconds....

this is the bookshop in my village - drats, I forgot to upload my "art noveau" coloured hair dresser house... I changed the original design colours to a few I found in my stash box....

and this is Emma - in contrast to DS she's not camera shy and posed in the hanging basket....

..... and among the parsley in the window box! I found the pattern on the coats homepage and knitted her in handspun cotton, with "legs" (ok, for her fat bottom the legs do look rather spindly, but Emma is a sitting chick, not a walking one:)) from handspun naturally green(ish) cotton and details in madder dyed linen tape... this was a first attempt and only after finishing I realised that the maize, which was added as the bottom filling to give it weight shimmered through slightly. the rest is filled with light grey fibrefill... I think I'll give it another try with thinner needles - and maybe larger eyes, too.... she looks rather sneaky:)) I'll also knit with dpn to avoid most of the sewing, don't know why the pattern used straight needles? and maybe I'll double up the green for the legs as well - to give her legs a bit more of a chance! this one was sent away as a birthday present - but even though I am not really a "deco" person myself, I think I'd like one of my own "Emmas" (any other ideas for a name?) dangling her legs off a shelf here!

I also knitted one grey hat from the leftover HP sweater wool - and started another one to use up the two balls I still had flying about. the first one was straight stockinette with a rib of 2k/2p, but to make the most of the rest, I am working the same rib now (which is long enough to be doubled up later), but will work double-sided knitting for the rest of the crown. DH is a "hat killer", who either looses them or puts them into hot washes, so two new hats might just be enough to last the coming winter (assuming there is one, but after the last two I'd be surprised if we didn't get snow and ice again....)

on the side I am still working the embroidery for my piece of bunting (not much to see yet) and following a KAL for the "wellenreiter" shawl - very loosely. meaning: while I have seen photos of finished shawls on several blogs - mine is only in the very early stages of maybe 30 cm of finished knitting.... not sure how much textile stuff I can fit in today - maybe a bit of spinning in the evening, but after crawling around in the garden for hours I am usually too knackered to do much more. tomorrow we have to go to town - DS's new school is open for "business", namely the selling of new and 2nd hand school books, of which two are still missing from his by now eclectic collection (weighing about a ton altogether! I think they should force the people who decided on publishing school books so that 3 years worth of learning stuff go into one book, to carry the results on their backs for a few days! I am convinced that they'd change that in a jiffy!!:(( or not, because they'd be at home in their beds with acute sciatica!!)

two in one day!

2011-08-10T11:53:00.000-07:00

no entries in july - means I have to catch up a bit! I showed you all the "old" projects (apart from one grey HP sweater, which is nearly finished, just 1/2 an arm missing....) - but I started a new one as well. I haven't done any cross stitch for some time, but when I saw a SAL on a german blog I thought I'd give it a go. we are working lots of small houses or rather shops - and we can use whatever colours we already have in our stash. given that mine is quite substantial by now I thought this might be the right project to use up a bit of that. every sunday we can download another house and some "embellishments" - so far I have managed to keep up to date. I did however change the shop names into english/irish ones and I also changed the church design, because a church with an onion shaped roof is absolutely unknown in ireland (or at least I have never seen one like it:)). sorry for the crumpled up fabric, I should really have smoothed it out a bit before taking the photo:)) by now I have added a few more shops, but I think you'll get the drift of the design.

so far I have a textile craft shop (with my woolly bits name over the door - my one and probably only chance to "own" a wool shop:)), a chemist and a flower shop. you can't see the cafe, the book store and the bakery, which I've also done so far. eventually I'll personalize the whole town by adding a few trees, statues, benches and a dog or two in between:)) if you fancy having a go yourself - you can still download the free designs here - the blog is german, but that shouldn't be a problem with cross stitch designs.....

part of the problem with blogging (or the lack of it:)) was that I had promised to do a workshop about dyeing with our spinning/craft group, the connacht textile crafters. the date for the next meeting was end of july and I had to get all the materials ready for this in time. all in all I thought it went ok, but if I ever had to organize this again, I'd make a few changes. we had started out with natural dyeing, my favourite, but soon some people said: but what about procion dyeing, what about something easier to use than natural dyes? we agreed that two more people from the group would show one of each, procion dyeing on cotton/linen/ramie and dyeing with gaywool dyes as a third. which was overkill to say it carefully:)) we only had a few hours to do it all and it ended with members wanting to try each technique, but not having enough time. we also had too much material and not enough members taking part - which wasn't a problem on the day really, but meant that I wound skeins for weeks, packed stuff, pre-mordanted far too much etc. of course the material isn't lost, but I wouldn't have needed half as much time if I had cut down the list of materials - but who was to know?

never mind - though I am still working my way through a big fat binliner full of pre-mordanted wool tops, bundles of fibres and skeins of wool:)) here are a few of the results (all done at home, with the mayhem at the meeting there was no time whatsoever to take pix - I was glad to manage a cup of coffee and a piece of cake in a short break:))

this was a bit of a worry - I thought I had soaked brazilwood, but have never had that stain my cotton nappies such a sunflower yellow! for a short while I thought that maybe it was mislabelled for fustic....

luckily it turned out to be brazilwood after all - judging by the strong red that came on, when I put the fibres in (it's not quite as bright, stronger and darker, only the flash brought out this "danger" red....)

this is part of the dye "harvest", some madder reds (the first batches were redder and darker, but were taken by members at the meeting). the sockwool is darker as well, but hanging below the stuff here - I'll take some more pix,when I have finished all the dyeing.

the dark pink on the left is mohair top, dyed with cochineal - I love the colours it gives, but after a few days in a pot it develops such a stink, that I decided to put the leftovers away, even though there was probably another dyebath left in it. it smells like rotten meat after a few days - which is essentially what it is, crushed beetles boiled up:)

there are more yellows, greens and cochineal burgundy, purple and lavender - but they are already dry and stored away for the time being. I'll heap everything up on a table, when all is done....

the grey greens and green in front are dyed with black hollyhock flowers. this is a very interesting dye, because there is a marked difference in the colours on wool or silk. the green in front is wool, the blueish/greys are silk - if you dye a blend that isn't mixed thoroughly you get these double effects - very nice when spun up! when you dye a very well blended mix of silk and wool, like the top on the picture above, you'll end up with a greenish grey, which might not look very tempting at first, but goes very well with a lot of the brighter colours, when spun!

this doesn't look much like "natural dyeing" - but it is! India Flint calls it hapa-zome in her book eco dyes - and I took materials to the workshop, partly because I thought it might help to fill the time while waiting for dye baths to get ready - and partly because I wanted to try it out myself. not that I had time to do so at the meeting, but I tried it the day before at home:)) it is not as wash or light fast as the "normal" natural dyes are - but at the meeting it was great fun and esp. visitors with kids were enjoying the technique - with a lot of loud hammering as proof:)) of course you don't need a lot of strength here, but kids.... like it noisy:)) I used pre-mordanted (alum) ironed cotton fabric from a marbling session earlier. you just pick fresh flowers, arrange them between two layers of the fabric, add a piece of cardboard on top and bottom and hammer lightly until you have "printed" your design. you can steam fix it (the colours will change and fade eventually!) and maybe embroider a bit or use it as it is as a card inlay etc... just don't smash the flowers completely - or you'll have a job scraping the flower pulp off the fabric again:)) btw - the flower on top was a double flowering fuchsia - really a bit too juicy for the job. the two flowers below were red crocosmia "Luzifer" (perfect for this) and the greenish stuff at the bottom were flowering oregano...

so now you know that I've had no time for blogging - I hope I am going to improve on that now that the workshops are all finished...

back to the brazilwood dyepot - and maybe some knitting in front of the tv as well!

time.....

2011-08-10T11:12:00.000-07:00

I can't believe that it is august already! where did july go? I have no idea, but I have been busy with all kinds of things. some of the things I finished:

this is the KAL I started belatedly - the batwing shawl, ~~slightly~~ completely changed, with more stitches, a bat pattern in the middle and some simple lace along the edge... I like it, but I'd like it even better if it was much larger:) I only had a little piece of yarn left though, making it bigger wasn't an option....

I finished the "wicked witch" yarn that I started at the craft demo day in june, but I still have the salmon/green blend on the lendrum - somehow I haven't found the time to finish that one.... the bits of strong green in the witch mix have blended in so well, that they are hard to see even in reality - maybe the witch wasn't so wicked after all?

this is a batch of 500 g of black merino that I spun two-ply for a shrug. it's meant to be a present, but I didn't even start it yet, because the intended recipient hasn't given me the proper measurements yet. it was intended for a 50th birthday, but if nothing happens soon - we can add at least a year:))

on the other hand - not knitting the shrug yet meant that I was able to try out another technique I've had my eyes on for some time - double knitting. I read about it somewhere and found the instructions quite complicated, but when I read all of it again in a german book about knitting potholders as test projects - I found it quite simple to do. all you need is a bit of care when counting stitches. other than that you should be able to knit with 2 colours on one finger and knit and purl. really, not difficult at all - you knit one stitch in the colour you want at the front, and then you purl one stitch that shows on the back. that's it, nothing much to it really! there are however lovely patterns e.g. in ravelry - and of course it will be slightly more complicated when increases and decreases have to be done. I plan to buy this book, but it only comes out in september - the double knit socks esp. tickle my fancy! you can see a few of the projects as preview on the author's blog here..... I think the deadly potholders are hilarious - just the right present for a cook with "slight problems":)) it's always good to receive a health warning before dinner is served!

I also finished the grey yarn with the dew drop beads - it looks better in reality and feels quite soft, but I had a few problems with the beads:

you can see here that some of them were quite loose - after plying! the plying takes out some of the twist and a few beads turned out to be too loosely fixed. I was able to mend this by pulling out one end of the green fibres, thread it into a needle with sharp tip and "re-attach" it into the main yarn. but it would have been better and less time consuming to just spin with more twist:) well, next time I'll know better! of course it might also help if the fibres inside the beads weren't quite as slippery as teeswater... something with a bit more crimp might attach better to the fibres of the main yarn?

the last of my "older" finished things is a 3ply sockwool that I spun from several remnants of blue fibres, mainly corriedale, but also a bit of merino here and there. the real colour is less bright, but at the time I couldn't find the right light conditions to match it better. the socks will be a bit chunkier than with commercial sock wool - just the right thing for the coming winter.... our longterm forecast was for a winter even longer and colder than the last two:((

trying out beading

2011-06-20T08:49:00.000-07:00

I've been spinning all those batts I made for the demo spinning some weeks ago. funnily enough my favourite is the "mopping up" batt, mostly white with the leftover fibres of the batts I did before:)) the white is white alpaca and merino, very soft, and the few other colours look a bit like marble to me in this yarn. I think I have to do some more like it - or similar at least, lots of white and only bits and pieces of added colours, grey and pink maybe, to match marble colours?

I only had one batt of the blue/rosy colours - because the dark blue was a leftover as well. never mind, I do have other yarns in those colours and I think I can mix and match....

I am still spinning the last batt with grey/white/black plus some pink. at first I thought I'd add beads when plying, but then I remembered the arcticle in the latest spinoff, about adding stuff while spinning. I wanted to add clear glass beads with silver lining, to make it look like dew drops... it was quite late, when that idea hit me and I was too lazy to hunt around for grey or black alpaca - you need longer fibres to attach beads like this. it looks quite drab in the photo, much better in reality - I think!

eventually I decided to not go digging around my stash - and use handdyed teeswater top for this. it looks yellow in the photo, but it is actually a may green - and I like the resulting yarn. the good thing about spinning in beads on loose fibres is that the beads are fixed and don't slip around the way they tend to when added on another ply! getting the beads on the fibres is another matter - you need to fiddle about a bit to find a suitable needle - which goes through the bead, but has a big enough hole to get the fibres in as well:)

this morning, after one of many showers (again) I saw this blend of colours in my (handmade) "stone" trough - looks like tapestry to me:))

off to spin the last batt of grey/pink - I might even be able to finish plying with a simple grey commercial yarn that I already dug out this morning....

change of set-up

2011-06-18T12:53:00.000-07:00

I have been thinking about doing something to my spinning wheel ever since Peter Teal wrote in the OLG about changing the brakes. and I finally did - change the brake system! I tried it first on the louet, old wheel, does look "used" by now, so that it wouldn't be terrible if it didn't work out. but it did! the main problem I had with the normal wheel brake system (piece of leather, adjustable with a plastic screw) was that I could never "mark" the position of the brake. if I'd spun part of a fibre, did something else and came back to the first one - I was never sure just how tight the brake had been. no way to measure it on any of the wheels I know! why not?? Peter Teal (the man is full of brilliant ideas about spinning, wheels and spindles etc. - just look at his articles in SpinOff!) had the idea to use some weights instead of a screw of any kind. so I looked around in the shed for something suitable and found simple metal washers. of course they are not exactly beautiful - but you could paint them with varnish or something:)) the first thing I did was to weigh them all - they are between 3.4 to 4.3 g each, mostly around 4 g. I jotted each weight down on the washer with a lasting felt pen. if I remember correctly Peter used a sort of metal hook to put the washers on - but I just couldn't find the right material for that. so I grabbed a crochet hook and some leftover cotton yarn (I am a textile fan after all, right?:)) and made a little sack for my washers. the diameter is slightly larger than the one of the washers, to make adding or taking out easy. I made it longer than it would need to be - I tried it out and when I put in all the washers it can carry, the brake is fully on and the bobbin/flyer is barely able to move....

no need to put in that many, I think so far I used between 7 and 10. it's easy to make a note on a card for each yarn you make, just calculate the weight - and if you need to go back to make the same - add the same amount of washers! of course there are other things that influence the yarn results, but at least you have one more thing you can measure in handspinning! you don't really destroy anything with that set-up either - you can change over to the old system just by taking the sack off and putting the screw back in!

I made the small hook by bending a larger nail - no shop bought suitable sizes were available:)

the one thing I did miss however after removing the screw was my "holder", where I could wind the yarn in process around to keep the twist, when not spinning. I used to wind it around the brake screw. winding it around the hook/bag wasn't great, because it was fiddly to take off again. so eventually I asked my husband to fix a small timber knob in front - this stays on permanently now - it works great and doesn't look terribly intrusive either.

the brake system of the Lendrum upright works similarly, rubber band with string tied up to a timber knob - but not at the front; it's located at the back behind the flyer. the set-up would be the same though, just make a loop at the end of the brake "thread", hang the hook/bag with weights there and off you go. can be changed back again as well. I kept the timber knob, because it would be easier to use when travelling than a dangling sack full of washers:)

the normal spinning head of the Lendrum has the hook pushed through a small hole at the front. this is where I usually tie up my yarn in progress. when I started to work art yarns on the plying head though I discovered that there is no such hook on this! you don't need a hook to push your yarn through that orifice, because it is so large. but if you wanted to tie up your yarn the only place would be the brake knob - quite far away at the back! so now I am the proud owner of a Lendrum plying head - with an extra knob at the front:))

looks ok to me and is very practical!

of course I didn't only "decorate" my spinning wheels, I did spin a lot on them, too. the black merino is finished and ready to be wound into balls. the other stuff on the lendrum is still in process - but I can show you pix very soon.

I did get a bit waylaid though, when I saw a batwing shawl pattern here. I liked the shape of the small shawl, so I went and dug out the wollmeise poison yarn I had problems with before. I started to knit following the pattern, but I had to change the needle size. and I don't really like garter stitch... and anyway I needed a few more stitches in the middle part. I do have 50 g more on that ball than is used in the pattern. eventually I decided to use needle 3 mm instead of 3.5. and knit stockinette instead of garter. and use 21 instead of 11 stitches in the middle. I worked 4 instead of 2 edge stitches in garter and to avoid rolling along the middle of the cast-on I attached an i-cord. because I wanted it to be a bit more interesting to knit I added the bat pattern of book 3 by B. Walker:)) essentially I changed everything apart from the base shape of the shawl.... when I started to knit the first bat I realized that I didn't think it quite through after all - because if I just followed the pattern, the bats would be upside down! and they don't usually hang like that with their wings spread out, do they? after a moment's hesitation I decided to just turn the book upside down and work the bat like that. of course it looks slightly different because the stitches don't "stack up" normally - but the bat is still visible even in non-blocked state, so I'll just keep on knitting until most of the yarn is used. I am not sure how far I can knit yet, either I'll finish with another i-cord - or maybe, if I have enough yarn left, I might add a narrow lace border at the bottom, too....

I am still not perfectly happy with the way the yarn colours work, but I'll finish it as it is now. the downside of many of the multicolour yarns is that a lot of the patterns don't work out too well. the skeins look fab - the knitted results don't always do!

awards

2011-06-12T11:09:00.000-07:00

I have received an award from Sandra, the "versatile blogger award". thank you - if versatile means "dabbling in everything" it might be in the right spot here:)

I already thanked the award giver (is that a word?) and linked to her blog. the rules say that I am supposed to hand this award over to another 15 people, but I don't know all that many bloggers and most people, who might even be a bit flattered by receiving the reward - are usually not terribly keen on sending it on. so - even if the world comes tumbling down on me as punishment - I'll let it end here:))

I am also supposed to write 7 facts about me, that people don't know about - puh, here it goes:

1. I am a gardener - but most of the time I wish someone else would come and do all the hard bits and jobs - so that I'd just be left with snipping off a few wilted blooms here and there and maybe plant a few nice new plants, whenever I feel like it!

2. I like cooking - and baking even more - but I am actually not really all that keen on eating - chocolates! I know, I am weird, but I prefer liquorice, esp. the "adult" stuff that brings tears to most people's eyes! (I have a feeling that I've told you that before somewhere?:))

3. I always tell people that I am not a "jewelry person" - and it's true, I hardly ever wear any. if I do go somewhere I might just remember to put earrings in (and sometimes I even put on my wedding ring, ahem:)) - but other than that - niente. the really weird thing is that I like making jewelry! I make stitch markers, earrings, even necklaces - but it all ends up as giveaways (ok, I kept a few stitchmarkers, but do they count as jewelry?)

4. like my niece I don't like the telephone. I prefer emails, where I can. I can choose when to answer them, they don't interfer with things I want to do (or have to). I don't have to justify why I am not up yet, still up in the early hours etc... for years people couldn't believe that we didn't own mobile phones! we do have one now - but it's never switched on, it's here purely for emergencies! I could happily live without a phone - if the taxi driver agreed to come out on email pre-order:)

5. I love natural dyeing - I have a pot going nearly all the time. but I am still reluctant to do indigo dyeing. I have the stuff here, I even have the chemicals, but for some reason I have only done it twice (apart from those fake times, where I used ready-prepared "saxon" blue) up until now! I am looking forward to all the results of those intrepid dyers, who went to ISEND to find out more about the "fructose dyeing" - so guys, keep going and I'll follow in your footsteps:))

6. I love reading - ok, that's not news for people who know me! I read somewhere that a person devours books - yep, that'll be me, alright. if I can't read at least a bit for any length of time I miss it... what I don't miss are those people who think they can judge people by the books they read! I read a lot and very often I read books that I've seen reviewed somewhere else. I don't like all of them, but I do read quite different styles all the time. sometimes I read books just to see how the main character in the book keeps going, even though I don't find the rest of the book extremely thrilling. no need to wrinkle your nose, just because you don't like the style or even that particular book. some people like reading mills & boone - so what, does that make them bad people? I'd rather have people read books that I personally don't like - than not have them read at all!!

7. I am no good at speaking in public. it's kind of ok, when I only have to talk in front of a few people, esp. if I know them. but doing a talk in front of strangers, big no-no, I wouldn't sleep a wink even days before the date! I still remember those days in school, where we had to prepare a paper/talk to present in front of the class:(( I hated it, even though I do like to prepare the paper itself! any written work, no problem, I'll do it - but doing the actual presentation... let's just say I am glad that those days are over:))

so, now you know a few more things about me - nothing earth shattering I suppose, just those odds and ends every person has in his or her life....

oh, and did I tell you that it's still raining:(( I actually did manage two hours of pricking out and re-potting plants yesterday evening, but there are still bucketloads of plants and I can only hope that the forecast is true for tomorrow and the day after to finish the rest of the job! of course I am still knitting (grey DS sweater) and spinning (black merino), but nothing exciting to show for it just yet....

june bank holiday

2011-06-06T13:22:00.000-07:00

june bank holiday is always the date for the Ballyhaunis summer festival here. I haven't been there for quite some time, but earlier this year I was invited to grab my spinning wheel to demonstrate.... I had my doubts, because I have no stall or marquee to sit under and I didn't want to sell anything (i.e rent a stall), so I had to sit "on the pavement". the weather hasn't been great these last few weeks, but on thursday and friday it was quite hot (ok, for us at least:)). my worry about rain turned to worries about melting in bright sunhine - but only for a short while, because the weather forecast put me right again very soon after! it was going to be cool and showery... well, what's new - for the west of ireland? only, yesterday morning it drizzled.... one of those days they call "soft" (= dripping wet, not with squally showers, but with constant persistent drizzle...). and drizzled.... and drizzled... you get my drift! I wrapped everything into plastic bags and waited for my lift. we came into town quite early, nobody there yet apart from a few early stall holders. lucky for me the shop, where my allocated space was, is closed on sundays. I decided to just take my chances and set up wheel, folding chair and folding table right in the shop entrance - and started spinning. I think every single visitor, who stopped to look at me spinning mentioned that I had chosen a very "cozy" spot! I don't know about other people, but cozy evokes something warm and comfortable for me:)) ok, I admit I should have worn socks, but somehow I didn't think my feet would get quite so cold in summer! I don't get cold easily, but at lunchtime I decided to do something about it, before my feet might fall off or I'd get chillblains! I rushed to the local supermarket and bought - acrylic thermo socks:)) I know, it's a disgrace for a spinner and sock knitter, but then the choice in a supermarket on a sunday was rather limited and I wanted the warmest socks I could find there.... after putting on the socks the rest was a doddle - and of course soon after the weather picked up, the rain stopped, the sun came out - and with it loads of visitors! I think everybody had a good time after all - even though I staid in my shop entrance, because with the sun a cool wind blew down main street.

I didn't see much of the festival, but I met two other spinners and talked to countless people, about wool, about natural dyes, about spinning and wheels - even about Indian charkhas and cotton spinning! I was astonished to see how many people from Pakistan (we have quite a large community of Pakistanis in town - Ballyhaunis even has a mosque!) apparently knew about spinning and wheels, even though the traditional wheels there look quite different to my modern Lendrum. I was also surprised that a lot of older men were very interested in spinning - they all reminisced about seeing it as children, though again the wheels would have looked very different. smaller kids of course are always curious, when they see gadgets they don't know and colourful stuff they can touch...

all in all I spun for about 8 hours - and this is the result:

I carded some batts on saturday, roughly only, to get a bit of colour on the wheel. I didn't bother to blend very carefully - a few lumps and bumps didn't matter and I was able to spin without looking too closely, when talking to people. I made three batts each, apart from the white and the lower red/blue in the right corner. the former was some white south american top (a lucky find in my stash, nearly a kg of white top on a roll = perfect for some more dyeing sessions:)), which I blended with the leftover fibres from the previous few batts (I don't like to throw away fibres, but I think there could have been a bit more leftover to see more of it in the end result. well, if it's too white as yarn - I can always overdye it!)

I used the plying head with large bobbins, so that I didn't have to change the bobbins all the time. this is a blend of merino, lambswool, some white angora, some green soy silk - the red was madder dyed, the rest... I think the greens were both dyed with reed flowers, but I am not entirely sure about that. too many small dyed balls in green and yellow! without labels of course.

this is my "witch mix" (the flash brightens the colour, the original is much darker; see above) - some naturally black alpaca top, some black merino, some purple corriedale, pink merino and some glitzy angelina - oh yes, and some wicked green, but only very little. it looks dark and sinister but seeing the glitter in it made a lot of little girls go ooh and aahh:))

I think I will add some green beads to the yarn later, to make the yarn look even more witchy and evil:)) I had planned to fix them by spinning them in, but I decided fiddling about with small beads stringed onto some longer fibres (alpaca?) might not be the best idea for spinning demonstrations....

I also took a basket full of handspun samples with me to show. which proved that everybody always goes for the coloured designer yarns first - you can see if the visitor is a spinner as they are the only ones to grab soft and squishy special fibres from the mix, even (or perhaps because?) when the yarn is fine and evenly spun and undyed. on seeing this photo I realized I have to do some more bright reds very soon, and maybe something in yellow, too!

weirdly enough we had another festival exactly on the same dates as the one above. this is in the neighbouring village of Aghamore - a music festival, designed to challenge other big do's like Oxegen etc. we had our doubts whether or not this will work out (the village is really small and where would 5000 visitors come from?) - and so far we haven't really heard much about it. I admit that I don't know any of the names, but that doesn't mean much; I wouldn't exactly call myself a connaisseur in that area. we were just glad that the noise level was bearable - but I wonder if it was a success or not. I suppose paying 60 euros for one day would be rather costly, esp. if you don't want to go all by yourself? they had quite a list of vendors on their homepage, but you couldn't reach any of them if you didn't pay the ticket price to get behind the fenced off areas:(( so no buffalo burgers for us!

the last picture shows my reward yesterday evening after 8 hours of spinning:)) ok, it was a leftover from saturday's birthday cake (DH), but it was nice to drink a hot cuppa (and wear proper woolly socks again, though I have to admit that the thermos were quite cozy on my feet, despite being acrylic) and eat something nice with it.

oh yes, and if any of the organizers of the summer festival read this entry - well done - and thanks for the nice surprise at the end of the day:)) and, of course, thanks for the lifts by two volunteers....

lazy blogging

2011-06-01T10:15:00.000-07:00

I am doing it again - thinking I should blog about things, but then not making the time to do so:(( bad habit....

I have been busy with lots of things, but it's one of those times, where I do stuff all over the place, but hardly ever finish things to show:(( looking on the bright side: the weather is finally picking up, at least for a few days we have sunshine predicted and higher temps going with that as well. high time, the last two weeks we barely made it to 10-12 deg. C - more like late autumn than the start of summer! you can see it outside too - 4 weeks ago everything seemed to be too early for the time of year, but the cold weather has set plants back to their normal levels again. I saw the first elderberry bushes with flowers - a sign for us that summer is here.

the garden is a jungle just now - esp. "nice" if you try to reach the tunnel after a shower and get drenched from the wet leaves that grow too close to the entrance:)) my punishment for not cutting back the hydrangea that grows there! on the other hand - half of europe is complaining of drought - you can't have it both ways!

anyway, I did some textile things, too. I don't know where all that yarn went, but I finished winding my last bit of sock wool from the large 3.5 kg cone. I know that I dyed a bag full and I knitted a few pairs, but surely not that many? does anybody know what happened to the rest of my yarn? I have no idea, honestly.... I had some coffee that smelled (and tasted!) quite stale, so I threw it in the dye pot to boil it up. this is the result:

I put the skeins around a dowel again, the light colour was only dipped into the liquid briefly, to take the contrast of the naturally white yarn out. the medium colour is from the coffee dye bath. I tried to deepen it more, but the contrast didn't turn stronger. so I decided to cheat in my "cafe latte" yarn and overdyed part of the brown - with cutch. now I do like the contrast though I am not terribly fond of brown (socks)....

I also have to mordant more fibres and yarn; I have 4 skeins of sock wool left, each with 100 g, but I think I'll have to get in some more or I'll run out of yarn to dye very soon! not good right in the middle of the dyeing season:)) I do still have some very fine pencil roving, but it's not very stable and I would have to spin it up into a singles yarn first. it comes in flat balls, which I don't want to dye as they are, so I'll have to put a bit more work into that first.

I am also spinning along with the black merino, which spins up nice enough, but is rather boring. I don't yet know which pattern I'll work, but it is going to become a shrug of some kind. I finished the first 1 1/2 skeins, but I don't think I'll need the whole pound. so maybe I'll start knitting before I have spun all of it after all.... decisions, decisions:) I am spinning on the louet, because I have several other things on the bobbins of my lendrum. and some solar dyed superwash fibres on the second bobbin of the louet, so that I have to wind half of the black merino onto a ball before plying. too much choice on the wheel makes me careless with my work, I think! but it's tempting to put a bit of colour on the wheel in between all that boring white and dreary black. I am going to sit and spin on sunday of our summer festival this weekend, and I think it's nicer to look at when there is some colour going on during spinning! good excuse to get the drumcarder out again, isn't it? I prefer to spin my "comfort yarn" at shows like this, because you have to talk to people a lot and can't concentrate terribly well on your spinning. that's why I don't usually take fibres for special projects to shows - I prefer to just let fibres "run onto" the wheel, never mind a few lumps and bumps here and there!

and then there's the new addition to our household - meet Elvis:

Elvis is a baby penguin - a present from my friend I received yesterday. he looks very cute, with a fluffy tummy, grey (large) feet and small beady eyes - and he was called Elvis because his black head looks like the king from behind:)) I also received the book behind Elvis - lots of colourful patterns in "Fearless Fair-Isle Knitting". when I checked the pattern close-up I realized that the sleeveless hoodie on the front cover is done with only two yarns: cheating fair-isle with multicoloured yarn:)) I still like it though - I just found online that I can get the Crystal Palace yarns from several suppliers in the UK as well! very tempting, but maybe I should finish a few other projects first.

I also ordered the design book by Shirley Paden - I think it's time to do a book review or two very soon... if I can't finish anything else I can at least dwell in new books:)

it's that time of the year again!

2011-05-19T14:46:00.000-07:00

that time, where plants grow everywhere that can be used for dyeing! during summer of last year I picked quite a few flowers of birds' foot trefoil (lotus corniculatus) for dyeing. the result on wool was a lovely yellow; when I went down to the bog last saturday I picked a small bag full. originally we walked down to check on the orchid flowers, but only leaves and buds were visible, we went down too early. depending on the weather we'll walk down again in 10 days or a fortnight. I dyed the usual way, but this time all I got was a beigey yellow, not as nice as the one from last year. I decided to try my luck with a bit of iron on a skein of sockwool, but before I added this I put in some potash, because very often a yellow intensifies with added potash. the difference was visible, but only just. I wound part of the skein around my dowel, so that only part of it touched the dye bath. which worked very well - until I started stirring and the dowel slipped in:)) this is the result:

the lower skein is the pure yellow, the upper one the dropped one! I only added part of the skein into the potash bath, and this part turned dark green. the rest - turned beige/grey! weird how some chemicals influence colours.... it's not sensational in the hank, but it might still look nice when knitted into socks. I find that the look of yarns in skeins can be very deceptive. some gorgeous skeins may look awful when knitted - and vice versa!

when I saw the dye result of purple sage here, I thought I might give my red-leaved elder bushes a try. I used a potful of leaves and dyed on alum mordanted yarns. on the left is sockwool, in the middle silk and on the right the pale yellow dyed with lotus...the darker green on that skein was from the first dye bath, the ligher green from the second. it's not quite as bright green as the result with purple sage - but it seems that a lot of red leaved species give shades of green in dyeing. the good thing about the elder is that it grows very well here and produces a lot of leaves quickly...

I am also spinning a lot these days. I need to use up some of the smaller amounts of dyed fibres I have flying all over the house! so I grabbed some yellows and greens, some superwash fibres that I solar dyed last summer, some hankies I dyed with saffron and bits and pieces of commercially dyed purples - to dye a "herb garden" yarn. I left about half of the fibres to use for another hank - but this time I'll add clear beads as "morning dew".

I also collected some fibres for my fairy tale spinning - but first I have to prepare for the meeting of the Connacht Textile Crafters on saturday! it's the weekend of the Feile na Tuaithe in the museum of country life, where our group demonstrates all kinds of textile crafts. usually I'd have chosen spinning (we can't do natural dyeing on a date like that, because we don't really have the facilities inside and outside the park is full of other stalls). but this year the weekend has been organized by different people, who apparently find it amusing to let demonstrators walk very long ways to and fro. before I give myself a sore back from carrying my lendrum around for miles, I decided not to spin - I'll do bobbin lace instead. unfortunately the weather forecast isn't so great either and the lace board in its bag is easier to carry over one shoulder to leave one hand for an umbrella! the organizers shouldn't be surprised though if our group decided not to take part again in the Feile - I know that parking is always an issue, but it worked ok last time and I don't see a reason to change it to extremely annoying this year! new brooms, eh....?

anyway, I have to wind some more bobbins for my takeaway project - I am going to use some of the leftover clover silk in black from the bobbin lace fan - for a piece of lace that I'd like to attach to a silk top of mine, which I sometimes wear in v-necks that open too low. it'll only use 22 pairs and the pattern isn't too complicated, so that I can still talk to visitors without causing mayhem on the board....

see you after the weekend!

back home and itching to go....

2011-05-11T09:07:00.000-07:00

.. we are back from Germany - well, actually we've been back for the last week, but you know how it goes, when you come back from a trip: unpacking, washing, ironing - getting sorted again....

we had fabulous weather, more like summer than spring, temps in the mid to high twenties (Celsius that is:)), bone dry for nearly two weeks. on the day we left it started to rain in the morning, but when we stepped off the plane in Dublin the sun was shining again! it's been windy and rainy for the last few days though - the garden looks more like a jungle by the minute! not to mention the weeds that creep out of every corner...

now that I handed over the patchwork quilt, I can show you a photo of it. it's a memory quilt with photos, surely not a masterpiece, but I didn't have that much time and did the sewing by hand (I still prefer that method, it's just so much more portable than with a machine!). there should really be more quilting on it, but again, lack of time made me choose the simplest option:)) anyway, the recipients seemed to be quite happy with it - and so am I. I haven't done much patchwork for the last few years and I do lack practice!

of course I took some knitting on the trip, but I didn't have enough time to work on the sock I started. and it was really quite warm over there, so I only managed to use up about 3 balls of wool for the grey Harry Potter sweater for DS. by now I have finished the back, started on the front, but I really fancied trying out the multi-coloured cotton I bought some time back. I had planned to use it on a garterlac dishcloth (thanks Cindy, for the tip:)) - but when I had finished the first square I decided that it would do just as nicely as a potholder, so I added an i-cord with loop - and started on the second one right after this. it's nice and soft and squishy and would make a nice summer tee as well - though maybe in slightly more muted colours:))

because it was so warm I spent more time spindle spinning than knitting. I took my spindolyn and some silk hankies I had dyed and managed about one spindle full of very fine silk yarn. don't know if I'll ply it or use it as it is - I'll have to spin a lot more first of all!

when I went to do the shopping in town a few days ago I saw some leftover ripe ivy berries in the hedges. I picked them to dye a greenish grey with them - but as you can see it turned out a bit different:)) I dyed a skein of sock yarn with it. the darker brown batch was dyed first, then I let down a bit more yarn into the liquid, which turned greenish - and the last third of the skein turned a beige-grey. at first I wasn't all that happy with the result, but by now I do like the colours. they do match and I think they'll be perfect for a guy's socks - not too bright for the more conservative taste:)

I also spun up the second batch of natural white baby alpaca, but it looks just like the other skein, so no need for another photo. when I raided a hobby and craft shop in germany, I found some nice pompoms in shades of purple, black and red and also some beads, so the plan is to use them in a few special yarns. I would like to try fairy tales as inspiration for spinning; the thought of making "snowwhite and the 7 dwarfs" or "the devil with the three golden hairs" fills me with glee:)) but first - more gardening, to tame the jungle outside....

quick preview

2011-04-10T06:27:00.000-07:00

I am still working on the fabric project - but I also spun up a few smaller amounts I had dyed last year. one of them was soysilk, dyed with cochineal... it's a fine two-ply - and I hope it's enough to knit a small shawlette, but if it isn't, I have more soysilk to spin, one darker, but a similar colour, one a blue tone that might fit.
the second skein is a natural green cotton, which I boiled with some washing-up detergent. the sample I spun some time back turned out a darker green, but I used soda at the time, so I have to give it another boil to see if this made the difference or if it's the fibres I used....
the white skein on top is spun from baby alpaca, a gorgeous soft fibre, which I have a kg of - and will use some of that for a larger lace shawl. when I have spun more than just the one skein:))

I also started on one of the new sock yarns - this has two plies, one in red (more burgundy) and the other one multicolour, which makes for softer colour changes than some of the normal multicoloured sock yarns. I wanted a reasonably simple pattern, because I started this on the train (to see the dentist:)) - and will take it on the train again next week. this is from "think outside the sox" - only 4 rows of patterning, 2 k rows, and two slip stitch rows, one k, one purl - simple to remember and no printed pattern necessary:)) the rib is a bit different, too - it's worked in rows and will be finished with a crochet edge later....

and this is the preview - of the mystery project I am making from the fabrics:)) I can't show more just now - but I am nearly finished, just in time:)) I hope to get the rest done today - most of it will be done with the machine, though the base is entirely sewn by hand....
this made me realize that I haven't done any of that for a long time - might have to dig out the fabric remnants after all:))

bounty hunting....

2011-04-04T17:21:00.000-07:00

I am making progress with my mystery textile project - but I have to take a break every now and then, or my sewing finger will "complain"! I can show you the basic materials I use though:

I think it's self-explanatory?

when I ordered the fabric I also bought some yarns. the grey packs on the left are for a Harry Potter style sweater, i.e. like the one he wore in the last film. the pattern looks a bit like a rib pattern, just knit/purl stitches, straight up with a zipped up collar. what a change from the rainbow coloured sweater I made several years back. teenage boys apparently want to blend in rather than stand out:)) the rest is sock yarn and some cotton, for dish cloths and double knit potholders...

this is the result of my paper spinning test. I plied it with two (commercial) threads in linen/cotton and it's not as hard and abrasive as I first thought. of course now I see nice paper everywhere. I bought some crepe paper and this purple mulberry paper - and ordered some rainbow crepe paper just today... do I have an addictive personality????

well, if I do - I think hoarding materials must be one addiction. I went to the recycling center to hunt for more cotton fabrics in natural white. I have collected some, which I am going to use for a patchwork sofa cover. I found another one - this time with a woven pattern, looking nice, but impossible to photograph (the larger one in the middle). I also found some other fabric, each at least 1 meter if not bigger. some are cotton or at least blends - but no labels, so I don't know the material with some of them. the one on the bottom left has a white on white pattern, looks like patchwork fabric to me.

and then I stumbled across a large bin full of scraps. must have been my lucky day. usually I don't start digging around, because it's a huge mess full of tiny scraps and cut-offs. but for some reason I started pulling on what looked like a few pieces of white cotton.... which I can always use for stamping on, marbling, dyeing etc.! after about 20 minutes of digging I pulled out all of the cotton fabrics on the left. some patchworker must have emptied all the stash into this bin, there was even some pre-cut and one printed pattern with it:)) most of the pieces are quite large, about 20 x 20 cm or more - a good addition to my stash, useful for so many things! I also found some "mother-of-the-bride" fabric for more paper yarn - even though it's not real silk.... (flowers on beige ground, black/purple dots etc.) now I just have to decide whether to wash it all - or just assume that the patchworker before me was thorough and already did all of this before cutting... and think about a few new projects:))

I'm not dead.....

2011-03-28T15:43:00.000-07:00

... 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:)).

back to normal?

2011-02-07T11:41:00.000-08:00

well, not quite, but the damage wasn't quite as bad as we first thought. it's a lot of work and will cost a lot of money too, but it looks as if we're able to repair the damage - without having to move etc. after all. puh, what a relief. I know that a lot of work is still to come, but we don't have to do it all in one day - as a matter of fact, we'll have to wait a few days until we have certain materials before we can do anything more under the roof.

time to catch up with blogging! I managed to work a few presents in time - but as it was "just in time" - I forgot to take pix of everything. I did however take one of a piece of embroidery, which I made as part of a book cover. the book was a coffee-table book about ireland and I thought a three-leaf clover is just the right motif for this. I didn't design this myself - I used a picture I found on a postcard for st. patrick's day, but changed it to suit my embroidery. the original had loads of tiny dots, which would have been total overload in beads, so I only put a few on here and there:
the lines are embroidered in Oliver Twists handdyed silk, some single colour, some multi-colour. I like to use these, they are fine, but well defined and keep their shape well. most lines are done in stem stitch, some coral stitch and the circles are done in back stitch. the beads are from my stash - and the base is natural white wool felt, which was lovely to stitch on - definitely a base I'll use more of. I added a velvety fabric for the back and the two flaps, though my head was slightly addled, when I started to sew it all together! it was rather late at night and with my medicated brain I first cut the lining too short (which I only noticed after I finished sewing...). I undid every seam, did it all again - only to find that I put the wrong sides together, so that when turned properly - the motiv was inside:(( I decided to stop this and - third time lucky - managed to put it together properly the next morning:)) and the book made it in time for the recipient's birthday - yay!:))

I also finished the yarn from fluff - by plying it with some fine natural white wool yarn, commercially spun. I was told that it felts easily, so the plan to use it for socks was scrapped. I'll keep it for now, maybe it will be used for a hat or mittens? it's not a huge amount but should be enough if I use a bit more from the white yarn as well.

as I said january wasn't our best month! not only did we discover the roof problems, my teeth gave me trouble (still do:(() - I also managed a total yarn disaster! I had spun a blend from 70 % cotton and 30 % wool. superwash wool I thought (would have made sense, because the other blends used superwash wool and I expected that this would certainly be the case in a blend with cotton!) I plied it with fine cotton and dyed it with procion mx dyes. the plan was to make a baby blanket like a meadow with daisies. the base was supposed to be green, with big fat yellow dots around which I'd sew i-cords in white for the flowers. white, no problem. yellow - great. green worked well too, but when I rinsed it a lot of dye came out... I decided to put it all into the washing machine for a quick cycle on low temperature. when the machine had finished and the door opened - I discovered 5 of those Bob Marley skeins like the one above:(( for a few minutes I wasn't sure whether to laugh at my stupidity or to cry because I managed to destroy 750 g of lovely material.... eventually I decided that I have no use for 5 green door wreaths, so I started to entangle the first small skein a bit. to my surprise the strands were quite easily separated and off I went. it took me quite a few hours to turn the felt into yarn again - but I managed to and I am glad I did, because the yarn feels very nice and soft and knits up well, too!

this is the yellow (unfelted) yarn and the green (felted and separated again). there is a visible difference, the green yarn looks a bit like boucle, but it's usable and feels nice to the touch - and is not likely to felt again, when the blanket has to be washed:))

it was a relief to be able to use the yarn after all - I am not easily depressed, but when nothing works as planned even I can get a bit down. I nearly finished a few other projects as well, but I have to wait for a few bits and pieces I need to complete them.

can we start again, please?

2011-02-01T04:19:00.000-08:00

what a mess this year has been so far:(( before people start to think I am gone altogether - I am still here, it's just that blogging isn't the most important thing just now. the old year left me with toothache just before christmas - which turned out to be a major job as I had to have a buried, but moving wisdom tooth extracted. well, extracted isn't the right word, more like excavated:(( after two weeks it's still painful and I have come to the conclusion that the dentist, who foresaw some trouble with a crown right beside it was right. that crown probably has to go, too:(( unfortunately I haven't married a dentist and the bills are hefty - and of course more or less unplanned. well, nothing to be done about it - but it annoys me that I have to pay a small fortune and still am left with the pain!

on the other hand just yesterday we discovered a major disaster with the house. we thought the frost might have damaged a roof tile or two, because drops of water leaked through the kitchen ceiling along the back wall - but that's the least of our worries. when we opened the low attic over the kitchen to see if there's water up there, we discovered major rat damage on the wiring! the way it looks now it seems we either abandon the cottage altogether (but where to go??) or have to do a major job to repair it. well, not repair so much - really it would be a replacement of everything, the cables, the kitchen ceiling, pretty much all door frames to the adjoining rooms, the heating etc... you'll get the drift - blogging isn't really important just now:((

sorry about the doom and gloom, but when you're faced with facts like this, which might end in leaving a country altogether and having to start all over again elsewhere out of the blue - it's hard to be more positive:((

I hope to find a solution - and to get back to blogging soon... until then, fingers crossed that it'll all work out somehow! or is there a time switch, where we can move on to end up in 2012 with all problems solved? if so, please let me know by pm - and soon:))

new year - new projects

2011-01-08T11:41:00.000-08:00

but first I have to finish some old ones. this is the end result of the fluffy embroidery with madeira lana:

I will back and frame it with some patchwork fabric, so that it can be washed properly if necessary. I bought the aida fabric a few years back for the stash - not visible in the photo, but there is some glitter on the upper side, just right for a "starry night" feeling. I found the pattern in a cross stitch mag from the uk some time back and was waiting for an occasion to make it. I'll add the name under "sleep tight", but didn't want to spoil the surprise in case the recipient reads the blog....

a short while ago I received a package from germany, where these locks were used as packaging material. my Louet was standing empty at the time and eventually I just couldn't resist the locks and started spinning them as they were. but it was hard on the hands, because the tips stuck together and there were a few double cuts as well. so I put them to the side....

...until today. I combed them with my dog comb -to get rid of some dirt, the short bits and some VM that stuck to the fibres.

this is the end result: a box of fluffy fibres, which I will spin later tonight. I don't know the breed, but the locks are of medium length and have a nice crimp - and rainbow colours. fluffed up like this it looks like a large amount, but it won't take much time to spin it into a yarn. I plan to navajo ply it - but maybe I'll ply it with a single colour after all - to end up with a bit more yarn to play with. I have no idea what to use it for (yet), but I am sure I'll find a project once I know how much yardage I have.

advent KAL and other things

2011-01-06T05:20:00.000-08:00

the new year is already a few days "old".... time to show some finished objects. I finished the KAL scarf shortly after christmas, only 3 days late:)) I also added the starter pattern at the end, because it creates a wavy edge, which I wanted to be the same on both sides. I should really have turned over the pattern as well - but if you don't look too closely you won't see that it faces the same direction... it still gives a wavy edge though. this is it in full length - I am not sure a piece of knitting 38 cm wide and 2.8 m long can still be called a scarf?:)) maybe it's a sharf - shawl/scarf? or a scawl, could work both ways:))

husband and son avoid taking part in my photo ops whenever they can - so I had to use the wall to lay the scawl out to see it in full. it only weighs about 200 g all in all, cashmere is very light and runs far and the added 2 fine silk threads are so fine that they add barely any weight. they do give a slight sheen as do the few clear, silver lined beads I added in each spacer....

it's too long to show the patterns in more detail in one picture, so here they are, from left to right the first pattern and a new one for each day of december up until the 24th. all of them are estonian patterns. none of them were terribly difficult, though some had a bit more bite than others. I don't mind knitting nupps - they take a bit more time, but at least you don't have to turn the knitting several times for each nupp - unlike some patterns for bobbles...

most of the patterns (the instructions came with charts and written out!) have a clear build-up, but some are confusing at first. it takes a few rows with those to make out a pattern - I found those intrigueing to knit - it makes it more interesting, when you can only see the full pattern after blocking! some of them were more dense than others, but it blocked out reasonable well in the end.

some of the patterns are quite well known not only in estonian knitting, e.g. I have knitted the second pattern from the left as fern lace a long time ago - before I had ever heard about estonian patterns. others are quite specific, esp. when 5, 7 or even 9 stitches have to be worked out ouf three in the base row! a bit fiddly at times, but with a bit of counting and care no big problem. and not a purl tbl in WS rows in sight:))

huh, I just realised that I put the photos up in the wrong sequence, this should be the starting pattern, because I worked the lily-of-the-valley nupps on day 2!! there is a similar looking pattern at the other end, but without the nupps. all in all it makes a nice pattern sampler - but is very wearable too. nice and soft and though large, not too big to wind around the neck. or maybe I should use it as a wallhanging instead?

I also started a small cross stitch pattern - which will be a gift to the parents of a littly baby boy. I saw the pattern in a magazine - and wanted to try this particular one, because it used material I haven't worked with before. Madeira produces a wool embroidery yarn (Madeira lana), fine, half wool, half polyester (it's also available in a few multicolours). it can be used for machine embroidery also and comes on bobbins like sewing thread. it was difficult to find, but eventually a friend of mine in germany found it in a sewing shop in her hometown. there are plenty of colours availabe, but I needed "rabbit colours", off white, light and medium brown. this is how it looks after stitching. there is no body yet, because this is worked in floss. the "hairy" part has to be worked first, then it's fluffed and then the rest is added.

these brushes can be bought where the yarn is sold - there is a softer one for light fluffing and a harder one for stronger effects. (I think they could be used for fluffing up areas of mohair knitting, too...).

and this is the after - I know the pic is a bit blurry, but you can see the raised fluff of "fur".... I am nearly finished with the project, I just have to add some more back stitch before I can show you the rabbit in full....

there is another small "toy" I want to knit - a little frog. I had some darker green, but needed a second, lighter colour. I was too lazy to dig out all my acid dyes etc. so I just grabbed a bottle of food dye I had left from christmas bakery. this time I only added about 1/4 of the bottle, but it was enough for a small skein of sock wool. the green on the left is from the first batch. but this is not the reason I am showing you the greens. (the flash makes the green a bit stronger, it's not quite as biting as this!). there was still colour in the pot, so I added another smaller skein of sock wool. and discovered that apparently the yellow pigments of the dye take up easier than the blue (or there was more blue than yellow in the blend and none left for the 2nd skein?). the second skein is more turquoise then green - not right for a frog, but I can always use it for some sock inlays. I always find it interesting how dyes work - surprising, but not often disappointing, at least to me.

and yesterday I had to go to the county capital, Castlebar, to see the dentist... I am not afraid, but I don't know many people, who actually like to go there:)) anyway, I was rewarded for my "suffering", because I found a stone pestle and mortar on offer! I've been looking for one for quite some time, but either they were so large and heavy that I couldn't take them at the time, or they were quite expensive. this one is medium sized - but still weighs over 3 kg! it stands on its own because of this weight, unlike my old small marble one, which I have to hold with one hand when using the pestle. it works effortlessly and I am quite happy to finally have a good one! I'll keep this one for kitchen stuff - and use the old one for occasional "smashing" of cochenille.... I did receive an electric mill esp. for this purpose several years ago, but somehow this ended up in the kitchen, too. probably because I had just bought a bag full of ground cochenille and didn't need the mill for this at the time. I am nearly out of this now, but I still have a plastic box full of unground "lice" in my stash! some elbow grease will be needed to transform this into fine powder - soon:)) I'll have to mordant more yarn/fibre first though - cochenille is one of those dyes, where endless batches can be dyed after the first one!

post or no post?

2010-12-29T10:07:00.000-08:00

everything postal is still delayed - partly down to the bad weather over the last few weeks (not only here, there was mayhem at airports all over europe), but also because of the odd habit of making up for public holidays that fall on weekends on the following workdays. no postal delivery from last friday until tomorrow! unfortunately most of my christmas parcels didn't arrive before the big day - but I guess there's nobody to blame but the weather... I did take photos of some finished things though - the table mat/napkin ring/egg cosy for my MIL is one:

it's knitted in herringbone pattern (B. Walker pattern book series) for the set (over 2 stitches) and linen stitch (essentially the same, but only over 1 stitch) for the cosy/ring and the green border of the mat. it's a blend of linen and cotton, so everything is fully machine washable - apart from the egg cosy. I thought about it for a while, but decided that a machine washable cosy doesn't make much sense, if it doesn't keep the egg warm:)) that's why I lined it with a knitted insert in wool... I don't think egg cosies need to be washed very often or very hot!

a close-up of the flowers/leaves on the cosy... with small beads for the centre of the flowers - from the stash.

in hindsight - I would have liked it better if the colours were brighter - but DH thought those colours will go better with the dishes.... it's just that brighter colours would have made using the items more fun, esp. when you eat by yourself? or maybe that's just me....

this is the first stage of another gift project. personally I am ~~not really~~ not at all a collector of knitted toys, but a friend of mine loves all kinds of mice. so a mouse it had to be... after a lot of searching I decided to follow a ravelry pattern for a mouse called "marisol"... this is marisol in all her parts:)) it's not difficult, just fiddly - one of those patterns, where it takes longer to put all the parts together than the actual knitting of them!

may I introduce you to my Marisol (or whatever the new owner will name her)! this is her, wearing a pink ribbon with a small silver bell - and making my friend nearly cry with delight.... whatever it takes to make people happy:))

the biggest problem wasn't the making of the mouse - but finding a suitable yarn in light pink! now, purple is there in many shades, cardinal red, bright red, dark rosewood... but nothing that suited a mouse tail and ears. eventually I found a small sample of ingeo fibre dyed with madder some years ago. good thing that ingeo doesn't take natural dyes well:))

I also made her a "snack box" with filling: homemade elderberry cognac (good against cold - but it also tastes nice:)), chocolate stirrers (a mix of melted chocolate, icing sugar, cocoa and spices - with a wooden "stick" to put into hot milk) - and a first: milk jam! I tried it and it tastes yummeh.... you just boil milk with sugar or honey, a vanilla pod, some soda or baking powder and a pinch of salt, until it changes into a creamy light caramel of sorts. it takes a bit of patience and a lot of stirring - but is simple to make otherwise. unfortunately I gave all of it (it was barely a jar full, all that was left from 1 l of milk!) away, so I'll have to make a new batch for us to eat soon.... sometimes it's not easy to find ideas for homemade gifts - but thanks to the internet I usually find something new.

back to normal?

2010-12-27T11:01:00.000-08:00

we are back to the usual irish winter weather - cold, but not frosty, windy and wet.... after sunset yesterday everything was still white - and this morning there were only bits and pieces left. which is great, because we can get back to normal again. or so we thought! not quite though: the cold water in the kitchen is back - but the frost crept through the pipes into our water pump, which cracked - so that we cannot pump water up to the tank, where it is needed:(( major repairs, hundreds of euro worth in damages - and we can't do it immediately, because the shop that sells pumps won't open again until mid january:(( we might be able to order the pump by mail order, but even so it will be at least 2 weeks before we're back to normal waterwise..... probably right at the time,when we get another frosty spell:(( the good thing is that the big tank is defrosted and I don't have to carry the water buckets all around the house. just two steps out the back will give me full buckets.

today we spent time with some cleaning up as well. the hungry birds are mostly gone - we're still feeding, but even though the seeds and nuts are still there - the birds seem to be keen to find their nourishment elsewhere. which is good, because they're not supposed to rely totally on our feeding! I miss the flurry of them in front of the window a bit - but I am aware that it isn't ideal for them as they don't like to be that close to each other! look at the mess they left behind:

it's mostly seed husks, but also spilled seeds and nuts... we brushed it to one side so that they can collect the edible seeds from the heap, but at least the area doesn't look like a warzone anymore:)))

I am not sure that most of our plants were that lucky. last year the camellias along the south wall of the house did well despite the frost. but this years' second cold spell was far colder - and to me this camellia doesn't look too happy right now! I hope it'll recover, but judging from the leaves it might have serious frost damage. the same for a lot of the garden plants, though the lower ones were covered in snow, which might have helped in sheltering them from the worst. another waiting game - we'll see in late spring which ones survived and how many are gone for good....

last night I also finished my advent KAL scarf, but I have to block it before I can show it - right now it's just a white scrunchy heap of stitches:)) I still have some yarn left from it, about 80 g of cashmere/silk, which I am doubling up and knitting into a simple small moebius neck warmer. I am barely withouth my other one these days - it's soft and warm, but not overly so in our relatively cold cottage. I also started a small embroidery project - a baby gift, which I have been looking forward to doing for some time now!

end of year = new books arrive

2010-12-26T13:35:00.000-08:00

ever since I remember christmas - I remember receiving books. I love books of all kinds and I still receive them as presents. nowadays I tend to gift new books to myself as well - I exchange received money presents for them, mostly craft books:)) this year is no different - those are my newest ones:

these are no. 3 and 4 of B. Walker's pattern series - I received no. 1 and 2 two years ago for christmas. I also received another subscription for Wild Fibres, which I am looking forward to again, very interesting!

those are two of the same publisher, useful designs, some basic ones, and some a bit more daring:))

this is all about christmas decoration - I know, it's too late for this year, but then being "after christmas" is also being before christmas, isn't it?:)) I like the designs a lot, most are quite simple to make, but rather pretty and not too kitschy...

I meant to buy this one some time ago, but couldn't find it at the K&S, but I am glad I bought it, because I really like the block designs in this style. I had a hard time deciding between one of Susan Briscoe's sashiko designs and this one, but I decided to get this one first, because I have two or three other sashiko books already. (sorry for the blurry pic, but of course you can find it at amazon)

this is the only one in german, it's about making your own foody presents and it is full of lovely recipes, mostly simple to make, but effective.

this sock book has originally been published in german, but is offered now in english by interweave. lots of interesting sock patterns and designs, not too outlandish, all wearable, but still interesting to knit.

those two are a result of falling in love with tea cosies - I bought the really wild ones at the K&S - but couldn't resist the other book when I saw it again on amazon! the designs are mad fun - and I am sure I will make some more, though not necessarily following exactly the shown designs. if you're looking for gift ideas for those, who have everything else - I am sure they'll be surprised to find one of those tea cosies:))

this one has really taken some time to get my hands on. I wanted to buy it since autumn, but both times I went into the book shop in Castlebar, the book wasn't available. I am going to finish the one I am reading just now - and then it's the third in the Celine Kiernan series - which I am looking forward to a lot! ok, it's meant to be a teenager read - but I liked the first two of the series, so I am quite sure I'll like the finish of the story!

I also received a useful craft present - new embroidery scissors plus a "garage" for them. good thing, too, because my old pair is quite blunt (someone male used it for something other than cutting threads and fabrics:(() and the second pair is really tiny and difficult to grip!

and more books - this time two german novels...

I am well equipped for the days between christmas and the new year - but I'll also finish my advent KAL and my last gift project - which I show you later this week! of course it's not all fun and games here - I had to make more bird cakes today as the beasties have been so ravenous and the shops were raided:(( I melted some fat and added seeds, chopped nuts, raisins, oatflakes etc. and voila - new fatty food for the dozens of visitors outside. I hope they'll like my homemade stuff - it's great fun to watch them from the living room window, though sometimes I'd like to be able to shoo away just the big bullies! and I wonder how our seating area will look in the spring - full of sprounting bird seeds probably:))

Happy Christmas!

2010-12-24T10:41:00.000-08:00

I wish everybody a happy Christmas and a healthy and positive year 2011 to come!

this is a picture from today - white christmas, with sunshine to boot! we don't have to go anywhere for a few days and I am glad that I don't have to travel on those roads right now. I am going to enjoy the next few days - and will take the time to sit at my spinning wheel for the first time in several weeks!

Enjoy the holidays and greetings from the west of ireland!

too much white

2010-12-21T15:44:00.000-08:00

I don't have to go anywhere right now - but even so, I am getting a bit fed up with the white stuff. and today the sun was gone - replaced by freezing fog. even more white - for the few metres that were visible!

the birds are totally ravenous, I stopped counting them because there are so many! yesterday I saw my very first snipe in ireland - at the front gate!! it must be bad for them outside; they barely move from their feeders, even when we open the door and pass them close by... I hope that we'll have a thaw soon - I am going to buy a bigger pack of bird nuts and if I can, more of those fat/seed filled coconut shells they seem to love so much! they were very low in those at the supermarket last time with those shells; if they don't have them anymore, I plan on making my own out of fat and chopped nuts, raisin and seeds...

I also went for a quick walk with the dog today (after doing my "chores" - mainly refilling every pot, pan and bowl with water from our outside tons:)) - and saw some things close up - with the camera:

Dobby loves snow - the more the better:)) she rolls around in it, sticks her nose in and runs along trees to cover herself with the falling snow - maybe she was a sleigh dog in a former life?:) look at her, she says: come on, don't be lazy, let's go for a walk....

the freezing fog has covered everything with a fine layer of ice needles - the whitethorn looks as if it is in full flower....

but not everything is more beautiful because of the snow! this is one area of the garden, where the frost during last winter nearly killed most of our NZ hollies. most of them did sprout out again - but I wonder if they'll survive repeated hard winters. the empty area here is where we had to cut down the growth of the long branches... and I doubt they'll grow back if they have to battle against long hard winters every year!

makes for a nice "running" area for the dog though:))

the gorse suffers from frost, too - if it goes too far down with the temperatures they'll turn brown and drop off their "needles", but they sprout out easily again and make up for the loss with massive growth. this one has every needle covered with ice - it looks a bit softer than before!

the palm suffers more, I think! it even looks cold - the leaves drop down at the tips and look thoroughly bedraggled:(( it survived the last cold winter, so I do hope it will last through this one. we'll see in the spring, how many victims we have to mourn this time:((

the frost must be hard on insects, too. those cobwebs look pretty, when frozen - but the many spiders blocked in the icy layers on our watertanks show the real picture.....

exchange of scarves

2010-12-19T13:31:00.000-08:00

we have had another christmas exchange in the Online Guild - this time it was scarves. I made my exchange item (can this be called a "scarf"?:)) out of corriedale and alpaka, a two-ply yarn in blues and pink and grey as "background" - as the recipient said that those were her favourites:

the collar part is knitted - the rest is done in crochet. this is actually the first model I made, the black one was the second, as I liked it and wanted one for myself.... you can roll the collar up or keep it down, fix it with the "button" (a crochet ball) or use a brooch etc. to fix it higher up.

and this is what I received from my exchange partner - a lace scarf, made from a handspun blend of silk and merino. very soft and nice to wear - and the colours go with most of my wardrobe!

this is a detail of the lace pattern, circles, surrounded by "holes":)) it's not too heavy to wear, but still warm and soft! I don't like giant rolls of material around my neck - this is just slim enough to not make me feel choked!

of course I am still working on the advent KAL in lace - but by now it is so long that it's hard to show photos. it's not long now until all 24 patterns are finished - so I'll show the photo once I have done the last one - plus blocking of course. I think I will keep this one, too - as the cashmere is soft and warm, and I had planned to use some of the patterns used for some other knitting anyway.

more of the same....

2010-12-18T12:34:00.000-08:00

...and lots more! on wednesday the roads were snow and icefree... didn't last long though, thursday evening it took all of 10 minutes to cover everything in a white blanket! the header photo is from yesterday - before the next batch came down! by now we have between 20-30 cm of snow - and more, where the wind blew it into heaps! I like winter, really, I do - but does it have to be so much? and this evening the running water froze - also again! back to pots on the stove and carrying buckets:)) DS was happy though - he had no school yesterday - and the way it looks, this will be it until the new year! the postman did make it again today - we'll see if he manages tomorrow as well (more snow to come apparently!). today we could see that his car flattened the snow in the middle of the road - if there is much more, he won't be able to drive down, I guess!

this is the polytunnel - with some of the first snow load removed - but I can't reach the top! it was covered again last night - with about the same amount on top of yesterday's load... it's very dark inside, gloomy and cold....

I took some photos today - it is interesting to see the garden in the snow. everything looks different, and the structure of the garden becomes more visible. this is one of our "gates"; we have planted pairs of trees in different spots and prune them at the bottom and on the outside, but not in the middle, so that their branches knit together in the middle to form a doorway. it looks a bit like going into a different room:))

I spent the day with filling up the bird feeders (they are ravenous now, with snow everywhere), trying to keep the paths around the house snowfree (and the evergreens, to keep the heavily loaded branches from snapping!) and clearing away some of the stuff I used for making cards, presents etc. I managed to send away all my christmas parcels - but they might still be delayed, because there's mayhem in germany as well! apparently trucks are barred from driving right now - they are all stuck in some laybys along the autobahn:(( I think I've been lucky - most of my amazon order from the uk arrived extremely quickly - I am just waiting for one book that is sent from germany, no rush with this one though.

of course I spent most of the last weeks with presents. this is a pattern I found on ravelry - a mole in a hole:)) I couldn't resist it - I think I have a new addiction: tea cosies! by now I have several books with them and my fingers are itching to make some more. this one was a bit problematic, because I only have one teapot here. and I know that the recipients' teapot is larger - but by how much? difficult to guess and asking would of course be a giveaway! so I used pure wool (the green is kilkarra tweed, the rest is handspun, and sockwool for the mole). the mole can be removed and the whole thing could be felted if needed. it has two layers, the inside is lined with more kilkarra knitting, to keep the tea hot for a long time.... difficult to take a photo, when there isn't a large enough teapot for underneath - but you'll get the drift.

the pattern is easy to knit - afterwards I thought I could have done it on a circular needle and just knit rows, where I need holes for the pot. the only fiddly bits were the "fingers" of the mole - but not really difficult, just narrow i-cords.

now I would like to make one for us as well (at least I have the pot to check the size:)) - but it's hard to decide for a pattern! a "normal" one? or one with a funny shape? or one totally over board - like some of those? we'll see, I have to make one more christmas present - and then I can start on a new design!

anyway, my plan for next year is to finally get a few things done for my own home (did I say this last year already?:)) - not only a tea cosy, but also some cushions, one or two carpets, a new bathroom curtain etc...

knitter's block?

2010-12-07T14:32:00.000-08:00

I know that artists and writers sometimes talk about having "painting block" or writer's block..... I think I must have had knitter's block, when I knitted the second sleeve for DS's new school sweater... maybe my brain cells are frozen? or I was so bored with knitting that much stocking stitch, that I was slightly addled...anyway, I finished the first sleeve and started with the 2nd right away. the first lay beside my chair all the time, I counted stitches and checked several times - all the time wondering, why the rib on the second one is so much tighter than on the first... I even checked the needle size!

this is the second rib.... (after taking it off again)

and here you can see the first one below and the second one on top! I don't know where my head was when I didn't see - that I knitted 2 k, 2 p instead of 1 each - but I did! and only really saw my mistake, when I had nearly finished the 2nd sleeve... I couldn't just leave it like it is - it would drive me nuts to know this:)) eventually I took off the second rib and knitted a new one (this time correctly:)) - in the opposite direction. once it's worn the difference won't be visible anymore... but sometimes I wonder about the partial blindness that one can develop and not see the obvious:)) by now the sweater is finished and I am glad to get rid of stocking stitch for now!

when I took the rib photos I went outside to the garden table. which is covered in snow, but on top of the snow the rain during the last few days together with the hard frost we had formed tiny icy needles. not only do they sparkle like jewels in the sunlight - when you touch them slightly (with the knitting) they make a sound like chimes - very pretty! my table looks like covered with a sparkly terry cloth:)) or one of those fancy lash yarns? oh, yes - we are still frozen in - and despite the slightly warmer forecast for the weekend I have my doubts that the roads will be free of ice again any time soon. the next cold spell will come next week already!

living a simpler life?

2010-12-05T09:30:00.000-08:00

last year we had the first severe winter I've seen over here - and I came here 15 years ago. the winter I first visited, we had a bit of frost and some snow, but it was all over after a few days. we have had one or two winters with a lot of snow - for a day or two; then it melted and that was that. and then last winter! that was a big one for us, not only extremely cold, but the change in weather conditions made it very hazardous as well. now, for those of you, who live in areas with cold winters it might be nothing new. but the irish live in a usually very mild climate! cars drive on summer tyres (and some had no profile left even on those, as we saw last year!), pipes run along the outside walls etc. nobody has much experience, be it with driving around or living under "restricted" conditions. I think our ancestors would have a good laugh at people nowadays - they were well used to walking or driving a cart and running water? could be found in a stream:))

we have adjusted quite well, I think. we are lucky to still have gas and electricity and the telephone of course. non of that was availabe 150 years ago! but the pipes are frozen (they still are, the very slight thaw does nothing to a block of ice in the tank at the north wall:)) and showers are not possible right now. instead we use this:

we use the stanley to heat 1/2 of the house (it has radiators connected to it) and our running water for the kitchen. we have a smaller stove in my room at the other end of the house, but it only heats that room and the bathroom - and gives hot water for the bathroom as well. of course, now they still heat up the water - but the running water doesn't work. so we can switch to heating only the radiators, which means that they heat up quite well and make for a warm and cosy house during evenings and nights. the pot on top looks small - but it actually contains 25 l of water, when full. it's a canning pot - old, but still very useful. if you wanted to have a full bath, you'd need several of those, but for a half bath, this pot with hot water and another smaller one from the other room (plus of course cold water to "tone" it down:)) is enough! it might not be as convenient as running water, but it works well enough - and certainly better than our ancestors had it with an open fire and very little hot water! (did I mention that the washing machine still works - that pipe is well "hidden" and doesn't seem to freeze....)

of course during a cold spell like that there is one other important thing - for all the outdoor jobs a necessity really. the water has to be carried inside in buckets, coal or timber for heating has to be brought in, and of course - if you want to do any shopping, right now you have to walk to town (or use the bike, which I don't dare on the snow/ice - coward that I am:)). usually we get our stuff delivered, but in this weather the supermarket only delivers inside the town. luckily we have most of our supplies for emergencies here now - we only have to go to town for some fresh stuff like fruits, eggs etc. so here they are, my second essential item in the house:

some people show their killer heels on their blogs - but there's no such thing in this house. those are my trusted boots, comfy and warm and pretty much non-slip, apart from sheer ice... they don't exactly look dainty and pretty, but they keep my feet toasty:))

another essential (at least I think so!) during this cold weather is tasty food! normally I make my poppy stollen for the first advent sunday, but this year I was delayed... so here it is - for the 2nd advent sunday:)) hmmm, delicious...

unfortunately poppy seeds aren't all that easy to buy over here, but I discovered tins with ready-prepared polish poppy seed filling in the local supermarket! I added some bits such as chopped almonds, more raisins etc. and it worked quite well. and saved me grinding the poppy, boiling it etc.

not everything fared so well though. remember the last rosehips here? they didn't like the frost one bit and the thaw even less - this is how they look now! the birds don't mind the decay though - I saw them "attacking" the hips, when they turned soft and squishy! they still have a gorgeous colour though - which reminds me of the bags full of frozen hips that I still have to turn into jam!

there is hope for higher temperatures towards the end of the week - if they come you'll probably see me dashing into town and stocking up again on all kinds of food/supplies:)) I am pretty sure that this won't be the end to winter.....

stay warm if it's similiar over where you live!

a bit of progress

2010-12-04T04:25:00.000-08:00

no, we didn't get rid of the snow yet - in fact it became even worse last night, when temperatures stayed very slightly above zero C for a while - and it started to rain onto the frozen ground:(( my plan to walk to town this morning failed, because now everything is covered by a thin layer of ice. well, the best plans... we'll see how it looks next week.

instead of walking into town I finished my next bit on the christmas scarf KAL:

it's too long to fit my A 4 blocking mat, so the lower edge is out of the picture already. it knits up nicely and I am happy I did start, even though I am not sure that I'll always have the time to finish the next clue. I am rather bold and just add the separating bits before I receive the next clue, but it's not set in stone anyway:))
I like the patterns so far, even though the piece isn't properly blocked of course, so everything still looks a bit crumpled up.

I saw some pix on ravelry, where people added more beads (I only have them in one row of the spacer section) - but I counted mine from the stash and I am just above the required number - and don't want to buy any new bits for this project. so I'll leave it at this.
the last pattern so far was the most interesting one - it looks a bit like flat cables, but is just lace of course.

I am also working on several other projects for christmas, but can't show progress on them just now - in case the recipient reads my blog. so off I go, some housework might be in order and I also want to bake my poppy seed stollen, otherwise we'll even miss it on the 2nd advent sunday!

it's still going on....

2010-12-01T05:45:00.000-08:00

no sign of a let-up in snow and ice - though we seem to be the lucky ones today. on the radio they warn about awful conditions in the east, because they had a lot of fresh snow over night. outside the sun is dazzling - no change really from the last few days. we still get postal deliveries (our postman is a hero - he didn't miss a single day during the last bad winter!!) - and today I received an item that is intended as a christmas gift. it's handmade, but not by me - I will not start beadmaking (mantra: I will not start, I will not start....:)). the collecter loves hippos - so a hippo it has to be:

isn't it gorgeous? I love it - and don't really want to give it away again... if you're interested in more, I got mine from Suzie Sullivan here.... it would go so well with froggie in my pot:))

I also fell for another KAL - this time it's a shorter project, a "christmas calender", so we'll get the clue every day from today onwards until christmas. it's a lace scarf and when I saw the first clue up late yesterday evening, I just had to grab my needles and yarn do to the first clue. it was only 16 rows long, so it worked up quickly enough... I had planned lace for this yarn anyway - it's fine cashmere with 2 very fine threads of schappe silk. not tightly plied, I just let the two silk threads run into the wheel with the (commercial) cashmere that was leftover from the grey coat I made last year. I also had just enough clear beads with silver lining to add - very fitting for the weather right now, soft and warm - but with some sparkle too:))
as you can see - we were still snow bound this morning. after the hard frost at night everything is covered in ice crystals and the sun blinks and dazzles until it is warm enough (overstatement - you'd have to be an ice crystal to feel this warmth:)) to melt them....

in the close-up you can see the single fine silk threads - I hope I won't pull them out when using the scarf later.... it knits up nicely, the yarn is very soft but warm and I look forward to the finished project. if you want to participate - you can either go to ravelry (it's available in english, too!) or check out the details here.

more of the same...

2010-11-28T10:06:00.000-08:00

tonight we had more snow - even though we didn't have any in the forecast - well, quite a lot more actually! the header photo was taken around noon, and this one later in the afternoon. the sky already had this slightly pink tinge to it, when we went for a walk.

I pity the poor animals in the fields; they have to scratch for grass right now and when we went for that walk they all came running to the feeding ring, but we had nothing for them:(( several horses were trying to shelter behind a stone wall with small trees, but it must be extremely cold for them during the night!

our dog had a lot of fun in the snow though! she loves to dig tunnels with her nose, but she made a very funny face, when she did her usual scratching along the hedge - and was rewarded with a hefty snow shower:)) we also had to shake off the heavy snow load from some of the evergreen trees - the branches bend down - but don't snap upwards again, when the snow is gone! this makes them look extremely straggly, so as long as we can we try to prevent this.

I did manage to make some ornaments, with the perfect snowy background. they look complicated, but actually they are only squares, where you cut along the lines and fold the strips backwards and forwards. in the instructions it said glue, but I don't like to mix felt/fabric with glue, so I used some sewing thread and put a few beads on as deco.

the sunlight makes the colours a bit garish, they are not quite so "traffic light" inside:))

and I totally forgot to snap a photo of our christmas candle - but have a nice 1st advent anyway!

winter is back!

2010-11-27T09:37:00.000-08:00

it doesn't seem so very long ago that we had a hard winter with lots of snow and ice... and now - it's back again already! when I cycled back from town yesterday huge wet flakes dropped out of the sky and this morning it looked like the photo above. I do like snow and cold winters - it's just that we were supposed to have the last spinner's meeting of the year today! I would have liked to go - but even though the snowfall had stopped, the roads were very icy this morning. and probably will be again tonight!

here a few photos from the garden:

the slats of the front gate were covered in tiny ice crystals early in the morning! but the black timber warms up very quickly in the sunlight, one hour later there was nothing left....

we picked most rosehips for jam, but a few are still left on the shrubs. their ripe red colour is like a little beacon in all the grey and white out in the garden right now! but the birds seem to prefer the leftover crab apples, there is a small bird war going on at the moment - apparently about who is going to get which apple:)) no need to fight - we left plenty for them on the trees!

this looks like a bucket full of water, covered with a piece of saran wrapping... but it isn't, it's the first needles of ice forming on the water yesterday! this morning the ice layer was solid - time to empty out the bucket, before it cracks! the weather is supposed to stay this cold and the few degrees above zero are not enough to thaw the growing layer of ice completely....

I also brought some of my more tender plants in pots into the dome, which isn't totally frost free, when the temperature goes further down (like last winter!), but should be ok for the next few days - I hope!

well, if you can't change them, you have to make the best out of things:)) I didn't spin, but I managed to do a few other things - take out the advent deco, prepare the windows for candles etc. this time I learned my lesson and cleaned the snow from the pathway to the front entry immediately - last winter we had an extremely slippery surface there, because the compacted, slightly melted snow turned into sheer ice, which made walking (esp. for the postman!) extremely hazardous. we also had a nice spice cake just now and a hot cup of tea tastes better, when you have done some work in the icy clear air outside!

tomorrow is the first advent sunday - time to put up the lights and some decorations. we don't put up a christmas tree this early as our living room is small - and I would probably go nuts, if I had to walk/work around it for more than a month. but I do put up at least part of my textile decos now, and bit by bit the rest will be put up as time allows. normally I would have made a poppy seed stollen for tomorrow (our very own tradition:)), but I made a cake for my friend, who usually takes me to the meeting - so we still have plenty for tomorrow to eat. in contrast to normal stollen (similar to a christmas pudding, but slightly more "doughy", with a yeast dough base) the poppy seed stollen doesn't keep fresh for a very long time, so I prefer to make a fresh one when needed. and from monday onwards I'll start making cookies.... it already smells like christmas, cinnamon, cloves and baked goods give the kitchen this warm, glowing feeling that I associate with christmas!

time to light the fire - and pull out the knitting!:))

what a way to start the day!

2010-11-23T09:44:00.000-08:00

as if the economic/politcal situation over here isn't bad enough....

I love to start my day with a fresh mug of tea, into which I put a dash of milk, not too much, just to cut it slightly. well, I did the same as usual: tea, bag out, open fridge door, milk into the tea.... with the first sip I realized that it was quite strong, I didn't stir the milk in properly.... the second sip..... hm, a bit of a weird taste! might be me, sometimes a cold etc. can give tea a funny taste. with the third sip I noticed a decidedly fruity taste - and a bit acidic it was too! ach, the milk must be off, what a waste of a perfectly good mug of tea!

when I emptied the mug into the sink I saw funny yellow "bits" that had sunk to the bottom - and then it hit me! I didn't add milk to my tea - it was mango/passionfruit smoothie:(( no wonder that the tea tasted weird - maybe I should open my eyes a bit more in the morning?:)) or put the smoothie tetrapack into a different space, not where I usually keep the milk!

one of those days... I won't switch on the news anymore, it's too depressing - and nobody seems to know anything definite just now, but everybody speculates like mad, as if that could help.... and a good piece of advice: don't "spice up" your tea with a dash of smoothie... it tastes yucky:))

what's this?

2010-11-21T15:25:00.000-08:00

this is the result of quite a few hours of work over the last few weeks... what can this be?

christmas cards - and lots of them:)) all in all I made 51 - not all are different or it would have taken me even longer to make them. I made some single cards like the decorated door - but also some batches of 4 or 6 that have a similar design, if not exactly the same. the plan is to make up several small packs to give away - I always need small gifts around this time of the year and I figured that nearly everyone can use a few christmas cards.

I didn't only cut and glue - of course I knitted something, too. a school sweater is shaping up, only 1 1/2 sleeves are missing. and I tried to knit a pattern from interweave with my "lucious Lucius" yarn. the latter wasn't the best idea - the yarn is soft and feels nice, but I don't like the way the colours spread in this particular design. the short rows on both sides make the colours look rather weird - and I have to say that I don't like the way the short rows form an inverted V at the bottom. I will try the pattern again with a different yarn - but I'll also start differently. I think I'll try fewer stitches as cast-on, increase slowly each row, so that a bowl-shape forms at the bottom. not before christmas though, no time to fiddle about just now:))

I did try another pattern, more successfully, I think. the original is from an Interweave Crochet pattern, the rib is knitted, the lower part is done in crochet. I made the first one in handspun, rather more colourful, but it's to be a present, so I can't show it right now. I couldn't stop myself, when I finished the first one - and made another one in black merino straight away. it's soft and feels very nice - and I think I'll keep it for myself. it's actually called "Lucious collar" - maybe I should have used the other yarn for this one?:))

this has a rather stark contrast due to the flash, but it makes the beads I added to the bottom row more visible. I thought about adding beads to the first collar too, but decided against it, because the yarn was already multi-colour and I don't like to overdo it with a pattern, esp. if it's used as a present, where I don't know the taste of the recipient so well!

I am also nearly finished with the table mat, just a few more rows and maybe a napkin ring as a small accent. the next christmas present is already lined up - the yarn and needles are ready to start tomorrow:)) I also found a lovely christmas decoration I want to make, smaller though, because the christmas red and green felt I have in my stash is too thin to support a larger one. there's a Secret Santa coming up and I need another small idea for this - soon.... so, no rest for the wicked as they say (why for the wicked???)

incredible!

2010-11-11T10:19:00.000-08:00

some days - things happen that I wouldn't have believed possible!

I'd say we are a reasonably well behaved family. I am 46, but I have never been thrown out anywhere. I assume that is because I don't misbehave so badly that people would have to resort to this. I would have said the same thing for my husband - but today we were taught differently! it was parent-teacher meeting today and given that we're having a minor storm today, DH went on his bike without me (it's a good half hour bike drive to the school). when he came back he looked stunned - and told us that DS's teacher had thrown him out! at first I thought he was having me on - but no, she threw him out of the classroom and refused to talk to him further! the reason? apparently you are allowed (and very welcome to) to praise them to the sky, but you are not allowed to utter criticism - even if you do so politely! at first they talked about how DS is doing in school and all was ok. then my husband dared to tell her that our son seems to be bored in school - first mistake! then he tried to tell her that it's not ok to tell kids off, when they have to yawn during lessons. ok, if one child constantly looks tired and yawns all the time, I would consider it the teacher's duty to talk to the parents about this; maybe the child in question does not get enough sleep. but sending kids out to stand outside the door because they yawn seems to be rather weird to me! everybody has the urge to yawn at times; it's hart to stifle, might have to do with being bored, but also with lack of exercise and oxygen - how can children be thrown out of the classroom for this? DS told us that she tends to yell very often (I hate sreaming women, never mind screaming teachers:((), she tells kids off for not being fast enough (how can you say to a kid, who isn't fast enough at solving maths problems, that this is worse than pulling teeth???) etc. all in all I'd say that she was so offended because somewhere deep inside she either knew that her behaviour isn't right - or that she isn't able to discuss something like that like an adult. either way - she didn't only throw my husband out of her classroom - she even told the next waiting parent how badly he insulted her! so much for confidential discussions... the only good thing is that DS is doing his last year in this school - we hope that teachers in secondary school in Ballyhaunis might be a bit more adult about taking criticism....

on a lighter note - I spun two new yarns. one was inspired by this photo:

I like HP inspired yarns etc - as long as they are usable after spinning. and I think Jason Isaacs is perfect in the role of Lucius Malfoy. incredibly arrogant and wearing only the finest garments:)) (Malfoy that is, I doubt that Isaacs is behaving like this:)) it had to be something with black and silver for him - for obvious reasons!

when I saw my bag of black alpaca top, I knew this would be perfect. sleek and smooth, slightly shiny and deep black. I added some burgundy red (his cloak was lined with that colour in one of the films) and white shiny viscose instead of silver. of course the skulls would match his death eater status, but I wasn't sure during spinning what I'd actually make out of this yarn, so the skulls are only added for photographic purposes (I might attach some later:)). it's a single yarn, smooth and looking slightly sinister (and arrogant:)), just like its inspiration. unfortunately I don't have any snake beads in my stash...

my other yarn is this - one of the most idiotic yarns I've ever spun! that happens when I am not thinking about what I am doing... I chose several blue and one pink corriedale top and spun a marled yarn with it. I liked it, but wanted to tone it down slightly and ply it with another colour, slightly less colourful. which is where the grey alpaca comes in. I started plying as usual (watching tv) - and only noticed halfway through that this yarn behaved a bit oddly... the blue/pink was perfect - but the grey alpaca became more twisted instead of less! all of a sudden I remembered that for reasons unknown (more lack of thinking it through, probably!) I spun the alpaca with s-twist, not with my normal z-twist! and of course I had spun the blue/pink z... argh!! well, it was too late to "unply" the whole lot, so I just kept going, tried not to add too much twist and finished the bobbin. I had high hopes that the overtwist might lessen a bit after washing - which it did, in the blue/pink at least:)) I wasn't too sure about knitting with this - but it turned out ok, so I can go ahead with my planned project.... stupid really - that happens when I get too comfortable in front of the wheel and work without putting at least some thought into it! taught me a lesson (puh, the second one today - no criticism towards teachers - and no brainless spinning either:))

we're getting closer!

2010-11-08T15:58:00.000-08:00

halloween is over - the K&S is over - time for christmas preparations:)) yes, I am not joking, of course I am already busy doing presents, otherwise I'd never be ready in time (it's hard enough as it is:)). I already know that I won't be able to embroider all the cards I need, but I prefer to send handmade cards at least, esp. to people, who's only gift from me will be this card. so I started to get a few things, stamps, pencils, glue, and a mag or two with freebies. and then I started, this is the material I spread all over the table last week:

lots of bits and pieces and at first I was a bit lost - I finally got going by making one card from a magazine. after a little while it became easier and I managed to put some together without mag. samples.

I esp. like the effect of crushing pastels on paper and working a shadow-like effect around the stamp, which gives a bit of a glow to the stars on the left. I also like the 3D effect you get from fixing things with little foam "pillows". it's fiddly, but it does look nicer than all flat cards.

and then I had the idea of cutting a window into the card and put see-through plastic into it as a door window. my georgian door complete with holly greens, berries and a wreath - you can see them all over the country around christmas:) I have to say though that this was quite labour intensive and if I made all cards like that I wouldn't get any other things done before christmas:))

a few more examples - I also found a link with free fonts - and even a few about christmas, handy if you want to personalize the greetings a bit!

once you have cut out all the small bits and pieces, the finishing is fairly straightforward - but you do need patience and sharp narrow scissors for that - or buy die-cut bits instead (like the wreath and topiary on the "door" card).

of course I don't spend all day every day making cards - yesterday morning we had lovely sunshine for a while (before the storm and rain hit us again!). and I went out to get some sloes.....most years the trees don't carry much, but this year has been exceptional! when we arrived in the bog, the first rainclouds arrived and I decided to cut back the wild sloe branches and carry home the branch tips with fruits. it was nice to sit in the warm kitchen, rain lashing down the windows - and picking sloes:)) I'll steam-juice those and make jam, 50/50 with pears, because pure jam/jelly would be quite tart.

look at those sloes - nearly as big as cherries - and some branches were so densely packed, that they look like grapes!

and this - is a very special project to me. you might say: bah, just simple wristwarmers in garter stitch. and you're right - but! I didn't knit them - DS did! he started to knit in school, at first a bit wonky, but he's pretty good at garter stitch by now. the yarn is handspun (by me, he doesn't want to learn how to spin:)), so any irregularities are mine, not his. he made wristwarmers for himself, wore them to school - and his friend asked if he'd make some for him too. he did - and then I joked and asked: and where are mine? at first he told me to make some myself, but eventually he relented and now I am the proud owner of my first and only pair of wrist warmers! I am not usually cold, but if I am now - I can walk around in style:)) there is still quite a lot of yarn on the ball and he has planned to knit it all up into more wristwarmers.... I think I should introduce him to purl stitches soon....

Knitting & Stitching Show in Dublin

2010-10-31T11:35:00.000-07:00

every year we travel to Dublin, either at the end of october or the beginning of november. once there we split up; DS and DH go to the Botanic Gardens - and I visit the K&S. no use taking the guys, they'd just drive me mad! this year was a bit different for us though - Irish Rail introduced a new very early train (for people elsewhere this is most likely hilarious, but over here in the west of ireland the first train to Dublin left at 8 am - and it takes about 3 hours to reach the other side of the island!), which left shortly before 6 am - which meant that we arrived before nine! the show opens at 10 am and for once I managed to arrive well in time for the opening.

which meant that I was able to demonstrate spinning (and carding, because I didn't manage to card some spinning fodder at home...) - at the stall of the Irish Guild of Spinners, Weavers and Dyers (it also has the nice bonus of being allowed in for free - which saved me from paying 15 euro entrance fee!). our group, the Connacht Textile Crafters, have participated in the last few years by producing some projects to put on show. this is the "blue" display we made (I only realized how small the printing looks, when I took the photo! it looked quite large on the sheet of paper at home....)

we didn't set many specifications - the colour blue of course was to be dominant, and the size should have been max. A 4 (I have to admit that mine was slightly larger, but I wasn't the only one:)). technique etc. was up to the designer. you can see that the designs vary a lot, embroidery, felting, beading, patchwork, dyeing, spinning - a bit of everything. I couldn't decide for one, so I went for the mood board, but I showed that before on the blog.

after about 3 hours of spinning and talking to people my shift had finished and I went to browse the stalls (and shop....). one of the first I found on the gallery, where the wsd guild stall is situated as well, was one set up by the Irish Patchwork Society. This showcased a joint venture between the IPS - and the Hungarian Patchwork Guild. normally I don't put up very large pix, but if you like patchwork - or flowers, do enlarge this, it's stunning! the bottom two pix show the two halves of the display, two full quilts with the most fabulous appliqued flowers! the upper three are details. I very often think that a quilt might look grand - but I wouldn't want to hang it in my home. I wouldn't have a problem with either of those!

of course, if you go to a show like this, it's extremely hard to leave without shopping for stuff! this is my haul - less than before, but I didn't just want to add more to the stash, so most of it is material that I have already planned for projects.

the black behind everything is actually black leather - with a price of just 5 euro I couldn't resist! it's a full calf skin, soft, but not too much so, just right to use it for a bag.

you can see most of it yourself, the red and black in the middle are small bags of merino, which I want to spin into a "Lucious Lucius" yarn, hp inspired:)) there's also some blue embroidery yarn from Oliver Twists, some small bits and pieces for christmas cards, two pots of procion dyes in green, a schoppel zauberball in "shadow" (grey and black) and a small cone of Texere linen yarn. like last year, only dark blue instead of turquoise this time...

this is a detailed pic of the pw panels I bought. I plan to make a table runner for christmas out of those (I have 2 of the same) plus the two reds above. I also have a darker green and a beige/gold still in my stash from last year....

this is the piece de resistance - when I saw this hank of dyed viscose yarn on the Oliver Twist Stalls I just couldn't resist! those colours - actually the whole stall is an invitation to take a bath in colours:)) it's extremely hard to resist and I always have to be really careful not to overdo it!! I am not sure weather I'll use this as a fine ply for a handspun - or maybe work it into a very loose, lacy (crochet?) scarf.....hard to decide, but before I do anything with it, I'll face the job of winding it into.... something less prone to tangle!

of course I do knit on the train - but this time with the early start I was too tired to do much already on the way in! I started work on one sock from one of my handdyed skeins - but this is all I have to show for it. I did have to play cards with DS and Ludo, too - does that count?:))

now it's back to normal again, i.e. tomorrow the autumn holiday week is over and school starts again. I'll have to start my christmas preparations in earnest now - I started to stamp some christmas cards this afternoon. the plan is to colour them with watersoluble crayons, because I won't be able to embroider all the cards I need. handmade - just not handembroidered:))

Happy Halloween!

2010-10-31T10:53:00.000-07:00

it's that time of the year again - pumpkin time:)) I carved our "monster" yesterday evening - and only saw today, that the poor thing even has scars in its face... well, being a halloween pumpkin is tough - but all in all I think he looks quite happy for a spookie:)) needs a dentist soon though....

Happy Halloween to all!

good news - and sad news...

2010-10-24T10:52:00.000-07:00

the photo above was taken yesterday afternoon - one of those brilliant autumn days with skies so blue and flaming colours all over! ok, not in that direction, because there are too few trees to chance colour much. but in our garden the leaves turn yellow or fiery red and some berries, late rosehips and even a late rose blossom peek out of the greenery... I love this time of the year!

and inside there's colour too - I've been messing with my acid dyes and sockwool skeins again:)) it's so much fun to do! no need to mix up large batches, no stirring like mad to avoid blotches and if the colour doesn't turn out quite as expected - what does it matter? the second skein from the left was supposed to be more blue than green, but the green beside it seems to have leaked some dye - which was picked up by the blue. this time the colours are truer to reality - only the one on the right is greener than the real one - which is blue to dark turquoise. right now there is another batch steaming away....

and I finished spinning/plying the batch of cotton/wool mix. I have 800 g now, which should be plenty for the project I want to start. first I have to dye it all though - green tones, but with procion instead of acid dyes, because cotton doesn't take the acids too well.

I am also still working on the school sweater for DS (boring....) and the table mat in linen/cotton, which is more fun because the colours change and it has the herringbone pattern in it.

the sad news is that on last friday our old dog Timmy (14, but pretty fit) was killed by the meter reader:(( he drove his wretched car over her - and didn't even stop to look!:(( I know that accidents happen, but nobody can tell me that you can drive over a medium sized dog that slowly - and not notice anything! it was obvious that she had injured her pelvis as she was barely able to stand on her hind legs. we called the vet and he told us that not only did she have a broken pelvis, but also broken ribs and a punctured lung. we could see that she was very weak already and decided that it's no good to torture her more, so the vet put her down:(( the worst bit (apart from seeing her so badly injured) was that I actually saw the whole thing and couldn't do a thing to prevent it. especially sad is that her sister was killed by a car (someone else, we didn't see it happen at the time) in october of last year - deja vu down to the injuries:(( and esp. this time we have a feeling (but no proof unfortunately) that it wasn't really accidental. why else would the car swerve directly into the dog's path instead of to the other side??? and there was nothing on the other side to warrant pulling over, I was there and saw nothing (it's not a road with traffic, we're talking about a narrow gravel road in front of our cottage...).

why not purple???

2010-10-18T06:56:00.000-07:00

I've been dyeing sock wool the last few days - part of my big (3.5 kg) sock wool cone has changed from snowy white cone into colourful skeins... I am using mostly acid dyes, though the golden yellow was dyed with the last dahlia flowers I was able to pick. dyeing with acid dyes is faster - and I can make semi-solids or paint on the yarn, if I want to. so here are two "reds":

I wound most of the undyed skein around a wooden spoon and only the dangling bit dyed golden yellow in the dahlias. for the upper skein I wound the yellow around the spoon handle and left the rest in the concentrated red. eventually I dropped it all into the nearly, but not quite used up dyebath, so the yellow turned orange as well. (the handle slipped into the pot once, thanks to DS, who "just had to see what's inside"... that's where the funny stripes on the left come from!)
the second one was done nearly the same, only towards the end I left some of the yellow out of the bath (it dropped in as well, but I fished it out quickly, so there's only a slight red haze on the yellow:))

and this is the purple mystery! I know, it looks blue - but it isnt! really! it's strong purple...
the yellow in this photo is pretty much correct in colour.....

but the rest looks more like this! not even this is purple enough, but I tried every conceivable light I could find, changed the settings of the camera about 1000 times - didn't work. purple doesn't want to be photographed by my camera!

the last resort - trying to scan. and yes, this comes much closer to the real colour - and you can even see the real yellow - and the funny looking blend of yellow plus purple.... the mysteries of photography - why is purple such a no-go? the only way I came close (but not quite) - was to use a red filter....
the second skein is purple with some very dark blue areas - invisible here. I sometimes prefer semi-solids, because they show patterns much better.

I also started on christmas presents - this is going to be the table mat. knitted in herrringbone (pattern in B. Walker, and also online in their study group) instead of crocheted hexagons. this pattern is perfect for a table mat: it's not too boring to knit, lies flat without blocking and makes a reasonably dense, but not hard fabric. I am going to use three colours, the dark green, the "brown" (which is slightly more mauve in real life) and some dark burgundy red, nearly brown. when the main part is finished I am going to knit a border around to clean off the edges. it knits up reasonably quickly - but it's a good thing I'll only need two - I think with a larger family I'd be bored out of my mind after two sets:))

and of course there are still some things in the kitchen that need doing: I finished picking everything but chaenomeles and sloes... and I made some elderberry soup, which I love (and have to eat alone, as noone here shares my delight:)). I use elderberry juice, add cloves, cinnamon stick, sugar , lemon peel and some corn flour to thicken it slightly. sometimes I add semolina dumplings, but I have to share those with the men in the household (if you don't like elderberry soup, you can always eat the dumplings with cinnamon/sugar/butter:)) - and I was to lazy to make them and clean up the mess in the kitchen afterwards. elderberries are very good for (or rather against!) colds and infections, so I am sure I'll stay healthy all autumn and winter:)) the white bits of course are dots of cream - I like the coloured spiral - and funnily enough the camera liked to show this purple! should I spread some cream over my purple sockwool, maybe????

halloween madness?

2010-10-11T05:59:00.000-07:00

I don't come from a country, where halloween is a traditional feast - but when I moved over to ireland, of course it became one of the festivities to be noticed, esp. when DS was old enough to "demand" it! for the last few years I've made some decorations for halloween each year - only sometimes they don't get ready in time to put up:)) this time though the madness really caught me - my first handmade skull:

it's a free pattern from lion brand and originally it's done in white wool and felted - the result is much bigger in size. I thought why not try the very fine linen/cotton blend with a small needle, so I made it with a 1.5 mm crochet hook. it's not really difficult, just a bit fiddly - but the new idea is: crochet it in the same size, but in fine wool this time and give it a shrink in the washing machine - to add to a freaky halloween handspun:)) the felting would shrink it and make it a bit more stable (at least it should) and if I made 4 or 5 like this plus a few metal skulls, dark beads etc., maybe with a few silver bits, it would end up a nice "harry potter" themed yarn - fitting for Lucius Malfoy maybe? I know, don't say it, halloween madness is taking over:)) or I could call it "deatheaters":))

the other thing I realised is that I don't really want to flatten out this 3D effect on my crochet hexagon! which means it's not ideal for a table mat - but I think it would look quite nice on a blanket/afghan! I have plenty of large cones of the same yarn, but in different colours, so material isn't a problem.

maybe a knitted herringbone pattern would be better for the table mat, it gives a dense fabric and lies flat, too. I think I'll go for a striped colour effect and add a border in a single colour all around. which cleans off the edges, but isn't too thick to make glasses wobble!

off to do some gardening work, while the sun is still out - and this evening will be spent with winding fine yarns off cones on my ball winder.....

mixed colours?

2010-10-09T15:36:00.000-07:00

I didn't manage to follow the one colour a week regime - but today it was a very typical autumn day for us: the forecast was for sunny spells, but in fact it was overcast and hazy - so I decided to walk around and take pix of our autumn colours. and one of the neighbours lit a turf fire; we could smell it - the famous "typical irish" countryside scent for autumn and winter! though most people now use oil/coal for heating, a few, esp. older people still burn peat. actually you can buy small clay/china cottages in some places together with very small pieces of peat - to burn them, a bit like incense!

so here are some of my autumn colours:

a lot of plants still carry fruits/berries; yellow and red raspberries, medlars, flowering quinces - and also potatoes. some of the late ones are quite small, but usually I use them as seed potatoes, so that is fine. the very small ones are scrubbed and fried in some butter to be eaten immediately - one of the special joys of autumn:)) the blue ones (middle left, at the bottom) are a real treat - they are purple inside and out! the pink ones only have a coloured skin and are yellow inside.

of course not all are edible - I don't trust the fungi that pop up here and there (I know a lot of wild plants, but I am very careful with fungi!) and some of the ornamental trees do carry berries, which are not edible - or at least not nice to eat. the blueberry has phantastic autumn colour - but no berries left on it. elderberries on the other hand are one of my favourites, maybe especially so because the trees here don't carry much most years. you have to pick what you can in a good year - like this one.

I also love the red dahlia - this is the one that gives such lovely orange dyes. didn't try the asters though. the japanese maples turn a fiery red now - the leaves are very pretty pressed and dried for collages and other arty things.

I started with christmas presents - I want to do tablemats in crochet and tried two hexagon shapes. very similar, only the white starts with simple sc in the middle and fewer chain stitches for the "holes". the fabric looks a bit denser than the green one - might not be a bad thing for a tablemat?

the green one looks more open - actually without blocking it has a funny swirly 3-D shape! it springs up along the chain swirls and lies flatter in between. I will have to block it to stay flat, though I still have to decide which one I am going to make. the green one has a pretty center with little clusters of dc's. I also have to dig out the other colours, though I am not sure yet which ones will work best with the dark green. off to open the treasure chests (aka suitcases filled with cones:)) to have a hunt around....

time for textiles

2010-10-08T05:25:00.000-07:00

it's official - autumn is here! a sure sign is that the leaves of my ornamental acer turn a deep red! this is not a sad time for me, I love autumn - and esp. the fact, that time in the garden decreases and time for my textiles increases....

it seems I am in a finishing mood - I am nearly done with the "dress sweater" (a long sleeveless vest in a simple lace pattern) - and also with the scribble lace shawl, which I started ages ago, when I didn't know what else to do with my first coil yarn - which was thin and quite evenly "spun" (should really be called plied?).
I used a thin 2ply mulberry silk (handdyed) for the fine base yarn and added only single rows of the coil yarn. I started with coil yarn plus some beads for the bottom (and will have enough to finish the same on the other end) to add a bit of weight to the scarf. the main picture shows a right mess of squiggles - but once the scarf is stretched a bit the rows become more visible. it's narrow, but feels very soft and silky - which is fine for me as I don't need very bulky warm stuff around my neck, even in winter. this will definitely be a keeper for myself!

this is the rest of the coil yarn I spun a few days ago for the "blue" project. it's much chunkier than the one for the scribble lace and only the core yarn is tussah silk (because it's so smooth), the wrap is a lambswool singles. don't know what to do with it yet - I might add a few rows to some knitting project - or maybe keep it to use it for weaving? the skein looks big, but there isn't a lot of yardage on it - most of the singles yardage is lost through wrapping it around the core. definitely more an accent yarn than something for a larger project! I like the "jeansy" colour though!

this is the "chiengora" - the light marbled grey is from the AKITA breed - extremely short fibres to spin. the brown and black is from our own two dogs and the fibres are a good bit longer and softer in the end result! the akita felt extremely soft when I spun it - but now in a navajo ply it's not quite so soft anymore. I am going to try the fibres in a 2ply before I work with it, but I thought the fibres might shed less if I spun it up tighter. not much good though if the yarn turns scratchy instead! on the other hand - DH doesn't mind the sweaters slightly scratchy - and the dog wool wasn't for me anyway:)) the dogs were very interested in the yarn at first - but after washing they weren't keen on sniffing anymore - which means to me that the wool would be safe to wear - without having all the dogs in the village follow the wearer around:))

at this time of the year I tend to develop a bad habit - I fall for magazines in the shop! well, ok, I do buy some knitting mags on a regular basis, but not usually embroidery magazines! with christmas coming closer the mags offer free bits to make cards though - my biggest trap, I have to admit. I have plenty of patterns, yarns, fabrics, blank cards - but every year I increase my stash with those freebies instead of using up some of it! yesterday I came home from the weekly shopping trip with this batch - plus the magazine it came with, of course. simple and quick designs, I just have to add the fabric - and the time to make them. which seems to be the biggest stumbling block! I remember the years, where I made all the christmas cards by hand. about 25-30! all different, no fun in making several in the same pattern! then I started to dye, to spin and to weave.... and suddenly I didn't manage to make more than maybe 4 or 5! and every year I look for simple patterns, that are quick to make - but somehow the number of finished cards doesn't seem to increase by much. well, it's still some time to go to change this weird pattern - I'll show results - but only if I manage to better my results:))

ps. the donkey above grazes down in the bog, together with 3 other adults and 4 baby donkeys. he (she:?) seems to be the "whinger" of the group - he keeps braying, when he sees people, when he doesn't see people, during the day, in the middle of the night, no reason not to?:)) even when they all broke out a few days ago and went for a trip up our road (and back down again, when a car passed on the main road) - he was the only one to bray! I admit it's not much fun to stand in a field all day every day (with growing hooves, because their owner doesn't look after them very well) - but why is it always him to make the racket?

I give up!

2010-10-04T16:48:00.000-07:00

nothing special happened! I just can't find the time (or inclination?) to put stuff into my blog just now. I think it's best to give up on trying the colours once a week - I'll just show you what I have done and if I find a nice colour - I put it up as I find it....

I have done quite a few things in the meantime. I finished my "green monster" - the spring leaves shawl

both pix show the scarf still with the blocking "wires" (actually they are made from carbon fibre) in. I haven't worn it yet (we have about 15 - 18 dec. C at the moment!), and didn't manage to take another photo of it either....but I am quite happy with it, even though the green is quite strong and luminous:))

I also knitted several dishcloth - this one is the starfish, the last one with this leftover cotton yarn - which used to be a baby cardie before:)) I like the pattern; it's pretty - but I am not too sure about the practical side: the main area is quite small and the starfish "arms" a bit in the way, when in use...

then there is the "blue" project for our spinning group. somehow I couldn't decide on just one project - so in the end (to get it finished in time!) I made up a mood board with handspun and handdyed yarns. the upper "cloud" yarn was inspired by a blue sky with fluffy clouds. the yarn is a two ply; one lambswool and one (fine) viscose thread, and when plying I trapped short pieces of cotton fibres in between.

then there are 4 yarns inspired by "sayings". the upper one is "send in the clowns", lambswool, plied with sewing tread, on which I threaded small pompoms. the second one is "midnight blue", blue lambswool with black alpaca. the third one is "blue plus" - several lambswools blended with some angelina and a second ply with added beads. the fourth one is my favourite: like a bolt from the blue. dark blue merino with flashes made of silk and viscose.

the last samples are inspired by the different blues of the sea - I spun and dyed blue tussah silk and some bourette silk in blue/turquoise. I then made 5 samples on the weavette loom, where I started with pure tussah and added some more bourette in each sample; the last one is pure bourette.

those are some samples that didn't fit onto the board anymore. one is a coil yarn, tussah silk as the core and several blue lambswool tones as the coil.

the second is a royal blue corriedale, simply navajoplied.

and the third is my beloved "bolt from the blue" yarn again - easier to see on the light background. I'll definitely spin some more of this for a project!

yesterday evening I finally managed to finish the last batch of the blue coil yarn - not all that much yardage, but plying takes up quite some time!

I also navajoplied my first batch of "chiengora", but the photo was so blurred that I have to take another one. the fibres come from the Akita breed, naturally a melange of nearly white to light grey. as I also had a box full of combings from my own two dogs, part of it is "foxbrown" and black:)) it's not washed yet and both "suppliers" were very keen to take a sniff!

of course being autumn means that there are still quite a lot of "pickings". the rosehips are done by now, but we still have tomatoes left in the porch, some "white" cucumbers from the polytunnel, lots of runner beans and the last batch of blackberries. I also juiced a lot of elderberries - which I am rather keen on as I just love the taste. and they're healthy too! we haven't had a good elderberry year for some time, so when I saw the trees this year I just had to collect each and every one of them!

we also have a few small cape gooseberries on most days - and very soon the sloes should be ready for picking too. this would be it, the sloes are always the last to pick!

of course I started a few new things here and there - but that'll keep until the next entry.....

other colours

2010-09-12T07:53:00.000-07:00

I did dye a lot last week, green and yellow and orange... and blue/purple too! this is the result of my rhamnus berries - nice colours like last year. esp. on silk... silk and wool is bluer and even the second batch in the same dye bath gave a nice colour on mohair and tussah/wool.

I had planned to take pix when all the wools are properly rolled into balls - but it took so long for them to dry that I lost patience:)) the colours are a bit stronger in real life, but you'll get the idea. I already picked another batch, but first I have to sieve off and dye with my goldenrod!

I also finished the plying of grey/black alpaca I spun. this is meant to be a Sirius dog. the sweater is very dark, so it couldn't only be black or the dog would hardly be visible (which might have suited Sirius really well?:)). the spread of grey is uneven, which is intended to make the dog look a bit shaggy and patchy. and I am going to try to brush up the alpaca slightly to give a more furry effect - after knitting of course. I recently got two small brushes, which are originally intended to fluff up Madeira wool embroidery yarn. should work on a dog just as well?:))

oh yes, and I still had some of the flecked cotton here, which I used for the dishcloths. just now I remembered that I forgot to take a pic of the starfish shaped one... all of those are knitted. I stumbled across another one, crochet this time (originally a potholder) and finished it - but already noticed halfway through the pattern that one thread would have been enough to make a dishcloth! well, I can never remember the US sizes for crochet hooks, so I doubled up the thread and worked with a 3.5 mm hook.... which resulted in a doily, far too large to use as a dish cloth or potholder:))

or maybe only useful for Hagrid's large tea mugs (buckets:))... well anyway, it doesn't look too bad and is fully washable, so what the heck. I did work one more round and an additional round of crab stitch, so that I only had about a metre or two of yarn left. which means - that the next batch of potholders/dishcloths can be in a different colour of leftover cotton yarn:))

late yesterday evening was spent with scratching seeds/seedhairs out of about a ton of rosehips (ok, it wasn't a ton, but it took so long that it seemed to be more:)) - I scratched for about 4 hours, not only the seeds, but also my arms etc... those seed hairs are itchy!! but I listened to some old cd's in the meantime to pass the time a bit faster... and stumbled across this: the hunting of the snark. somehow all of a sudden I had the idea of spinning a yarn inspired by this - might take some time, but I already know what I want to do. so let nobody say that scratching out rosehips isn't inspiring:))

colour red

2010-09-12T07:27:00.000-07:00

this week is nearly over - time to post my favourite dark red. well, I like darker red anyway, but this week my dahlia gave me so much joy (even though she dyed golden yellow and not red:)) - so here it is:

it was a bit bedraggled by rain already, when I took the photo, but I had cut off all the others for dyeing:)

next week it's going to be pink - there won't be much in the way of textiles as I am not really a pink girl. but I am sure I can find pix from the garden.....

more natural dyeing

2010-09-08T11:33:00.000-07:00

while I am dyeing like mad - I am also translating several articles from the spinoff autumn issue - about natural dyeing... very befitting, though I don't agree with everything that's written there:)) anyway, I finished my red dahlia session - two dips, the first one (on silk/tussah blend) is a strong golden yellow, nearly light orange. the second batch turned out much lighter, silk/tussah in the background and in the middle a smaller amount of superwash wool top. which took the dye better - now I wish I'd used it in the first bath, too:(( there are a few more dahlia flowers to come - maybe I do get the chance for a small lot of it, though it depends on how the rest of september will turn out to be weatherwise. but at least now I know that I have the right dahlia variety again for dyeing yellows and oranges - instead of yucky dirt beige/brownish! I had to run around with the clothes drier several times though - and in the end there was a shower so heavy that I gave up - and had everything wetter again than it was before I put it out:((

the photo also shows the dried silk/tussah blend dyed with the reed flowers - this time the light was better and the green is much closer to reality than the last photo.

I think the colours go very well together - but I still need the purple I had planned to use with it. first up are the rhamnus berries though - 1.5 kg in this lot! though it might be a bit less as I nearly dropped the bucket they were in - and spilled a good lot on the kitchen floor:(( we'll see if dog hair and dust bunnies will influence the colour outcome:))

I still didn't block the green scarf - can't seem to bring myself to do it... unfortunately the edges are wavy from the leaf pattern, so I can only use my carbon fibre rods for the outermost stitches - and have to fix the rest with pins.... I might do it tonight - when the kitchen table is empty and nobody needs it for urgent jobs such as forgotten homework, messing around with paper and glue etc....

autumn = rich pickings for natural dyers

2010-09-05T11:41:00.000-07:00

the weather has finally changed. after 10 lovely days, warm and sunny and dry, we are back to more normal irish autumn weather - it started raining this afternoon. it's not cold, but pretty windy and a lot of the leaves are already coming off the trees - mainly the maple leaves, as they suffer from blackspot disease over here and fall earlier than in germany. I just made it in time today to pick a small bucket of rhamnus frangula berries - not for eating (they cause severe diarrhoe) but for dyeing. on wool they give a lovely grey-green with a blueish tinge, but on silk they give a dove blue! and they seem to be pretty lightfast, there has been very little change on the dyed fibres from last year, even though they were kept in normal daylight with occasional sunlight on them. I stopped picking when the rain became heavier - but I hope I'll get a dry spell again tomorrow to pick more - there are plenty on our 3 small trees! they are odd really - the trees are full of unripe and ripe berries - and at the tips they start flowering again! they are easy enough to pick - if you don't mind the occasional spider running all over you in its attempts to get away from the rude picker:))

I also rinsed and dried about 200 g of a tussahsilk/wool blend I dyed with reed flowers yesterday - the green is difficult to catch in a photo, the real stuff looks less flat and livelier somehow, it's "greener", not as grey as this:

I also did a small cross stitch project - an insert for a birthday card, with a summery theme - but when I worked on it we still had lovely sunshine:)

the aida is white of course - but I took the photo inside and couldn't avoid a bit of shade on it. I hope it arrives ok; I put a piece of bubble wrap on top of the charms, which should really be enough to keep it from poking through the envelope....

I also finished the green spring leaves shawl - with a few problems at the end:(( I weighed the yarn into two equal balls - or so I thought. of course there might be a very slight difference in length - but I didn't expect it to be enough to work a whole pattern sequence! or rather not to work another sequence... I did 11 plus the last finishing pattern on the one side - but had to frog the 11th on the 2nd side, because I ran out of yarn. after finishing 10 repeats plus the finish on the 2nd side I am left with just 3 or 4 m of yarn! well, it might not be perfect, but it's quite a long piece and as long as the two sides aren't put exactly on top of each other nobody will see the difference (but me, which annoys me of course:)). I have to block it first though - a bit of a job with this long band - pix to follow.

and being sunday today - we had the first plumcake of the season. with our own plums! yummeeh - I tried a new recipe, where the base is made with quark (a kind of soft cheese) and oil instead of the usual yeast dough. and on top of the plums are lovely streusels (a topping like crumble) made with brown sugar, almonds and butter..... half of the baking sheet is already empty:))