at the moment the days seem to be too short to get anything done properly.... preparations for our visitors, work in the garden, doing presents - not to forget trying to get something done for the running workshop of the olg! but I have to set priorities - that's why I finished cleaning out my wool room (aka guest room...) yesterday. all the washed fleeces were packed into plastic bags - with moth balls, just in case. they all went into the turf shed - only for 2 weeks, mind you, I don't wont any nasties lurking there to move into my fleeces! I have to admit that I finally took the plunge and threw some older bags out, some with wool so tough, I could have used it as wirewool. others quite dirty and not at all tempting to spin! I did find some nice things too - some useful for the veggie dyeing, such as hemp, kapok and linen. others just plain nice - satin angora, camel down and yak:)) once the visitors are gone I'll have plenty of small bags to play with! who am I kidding - I received a parcel yesterday - filled to the rim with nice, black (but unwashed) lamb's fleece of a Zwartbles! the colour very much like the black welsh, but the handle seems to be softer - as far as I can judge it from the unwashed fleece! it had to go into the shed too - our visitors don't like the sheepy smell of fresh fleeces as much as I do:))
to finish off the room I finally managed to make up the lamp shade that I had "in the making" for quite some time now! I knew I had some copper rings as a base for a lampshade somewhere(bought for one in painted silk decades ago....) - but I had to dig deep to get them out! to my amazement the knitted part (made out of handspun ramie) fitted like a glove at the first try, no measuring, sheer guesswork! I wanted it to look like an upside down cone, but decided at the last minute that I also wanted some corners hanging over the ring. the result is a cone with three triangles hanging down, weighted down with some pieces of mother-of-pearl, shells and beads. and a few glass marbles for the middle, as the shell deco wasn't heavy enough to weigh it down as much as I wanted! the result looks a bit oriental, but I like it - and DS does too, as he asked for a similar one for his room!
I also received some nice presents in the mail - the two books of lace knitting by M. Kinzl - and this handmade roll-up for my sock needles! with "knitting yarn fabric" no less! I filled it immediately - well, at least with those dpn I had in my overflowing box - the rest are still in use, but there's enough space left for all of them! thank you, Sabine - I rarely do receive handmade presents! usually I am told to make my own, as I do so many things myself.... but that's just not the same:)) pity that the circs. don't fit into it - I have to think about something like that for storage at some stage, as the timber box is too small for all of my needles - and the longer ones don't fit the cd booklets available!
2 comments:
oo that roll up looks very handy, what a nice thing to have.
i just keep my hooks and short needles in a pencil case. what a mess!
I bought a small wooden box for them years ago - but I think it was made for those knitters and crocheters, who get by with 4-5 needles:)) and anyway - handmade is always nicer - at least to me:)) I heard that aluminium tubes, which held expensive cigars once upon a time work well - but noone smokes those big smellies here, so how would I get my grubby mitts on them? and would dpn really fit into them (must be very large cuban cigars?:))
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