time flies....

.... I can't believe that it'll only be another 2 months and a bit - and it'll be Christmas! maybe it's because the weather has turned mild again after a few colder days? it doesn't feel like winter - though the leaves have pretty much fallen. I love my little japanese maple above. the colour changes from green with a slightly red tinge to this fiery red within a day or two! unfortunately that colour won't last long either - another week or so and it's bare - like now. there isn't much colour on the patio left, apart from the few red leaves on the blueberries it's only a bit of green and nothing else..... I am always envious of gardens in the subtropics at this time of the year - but then I'd have to suffer their heat during summer as well, so maybe it's all for the best😏

 

the good thing about the change in season is that knitting weather is back! I mostly spun during the summer, knitted only small bits and pieces, mainly in cotton - but now it's time for longer evenings inside in front of the wheel or with bigger, woolly knitting projects in front of the TV. and it's high time, too - the christmas gifts won't knit themselves!

 

I also finished the one skein of autumn colour I started at the WWSIP last month. I grabbed everything in yellow, orange, red, some lighter green and a bit of silk - to make rolags on my blending board.

 from this mess.....

...to pretty rolags only takes a little while. but what a change!

 ...to this skein. it looks like a lot, when you have a shoebox full of rolags, but spun up it's only one skein after all! I do like the colour though - it'll be a good choice for "autumn", when I put together some advent calendars I want to use as gifts....

to our great surprise we had our first walnuts this year! the tree is huge, but never did a thing before - maybe it's down to the for us warm and dry summer? anyway, I got all excited - not because I like walnuts (I do:), but because this was the first time I was able to use the green hulls for dyeing! of course I didn't wear gloves, when I found the nuts - so by the time I was inside again my hands had turned a lovely, deep brown already. no need to start wearing gloves  for peeling and chopping, but I had brown stained hands for two weeks or so:) good thing I don't work in a kitchen or restaurant!  

I had mordanted about 500 g of teeswater top already, because the original plan was to pick reed flowers to dye green. but either the weather was too bad to wander down to the bog - or I was busy with other things. there's no need to pre-mordant for walnuts, but it doesn't do harm either, so after simmering the nuts I immediately dumped a small bit of fibres in that hadn't taken up any colour in a dye bath with purple fungi! look at the full dark brown of that small skein! I added a second batch into the dye bath, about 100 g this time - and it's still a lovely shade of brown - even though I am not usually a fan of beiges and brown! I did do a third batch, which ended up a teddy brown - but I haven't spun that one up yet. a lot of colour for the hulls of about 30 nuts! I do hope for more in the coming years..... one good thing coming from climate change?

I am also still trying to spin up my fibre stash! this came as a huge white cloud (batt), 25 % cashmere, 75 % "himalaya fibres". it was a gift, but I assume that those fibres are very soft wool... it's nice and squishy - good for next to the skin items. I also learned to spin long draw with this fibre - works like a dream.... because it's so fluffy it's fairly thick for me - I tend to spin thread rather than yarn most of the time:)  

some of it I turned into this cowl. the german pattern is called  Teufelszwirn,  devil's thread, named after a plant, has nothing to do with the devil, bad vibes or anything like that! the cowl is knit in a lacy pattern, but the holes of that lace come out in unexpected places - and the cowl is worn inside out! the effect is rather 3 D - easy to knit, but I hope nice to wear for the recipient as well..... for me that cowl would only be wearable in the coldest of winter, but then my friend lives in Bavaria, where the winters are usually colder than here! (the pattern is available in english now!) 

for my cold winters I am still working on the second part of the scarf for my scood! on the first side there are dogs at the bottom, so this side needed some cats. I adapted a chart I found online, with a few paw prints at the bottom. I still want to knit a Harry Potter inspired cowl, but I couldn't resist adding "dolores umbridge" colours to this one:) 

the next pattern after a small peerie is going to be owls - which are nearly finished by now. only in hindsight did I realize that owls would be a good HP pattern as well... not sure what I'll knit up next, maybe frogs? or spinning wheels? or some graphic pattern? to be continued....  

and to make sure that I won't run out of spinning fibres any time soon, I used up the rest of the mordanted teeswater by dyeing it brazilwood red. I like madder reds, but they don't suit me. brazilwood reds however are "blueish" reds, which I can wear much better. this batch isn't going to end up as a garment though - I am still dyeing more teeswater for my "Persian Dreams" blanket! I still need blues and maybe some stronger greens, and of course enough spun yarn for the basic colour, though I am still not sure if that should be left natural white - or dyed in a darker colour? there are lovely photos on ravelry - but they make it harder to decide which colour to choose! 

the brazilwood comes in powder form - which I inherited from a late dyer friend, who sent me a kg of it last year. I am going to be very mean with it, because it's next to impossible to find anymore after the ban on brazilwood, but I did need to check if it was the real thing - or a replacement, some of which only give apricot or light rose tones!

 

the other "problem" I have right now is that the same designer published a new pattern - at least as stunning as the persian dreams! it's called Indian Nights and I think it's simply spectacular! I get itchy fingers just by looking at it:) and I could even make one for our own sofa, because the dogs don't seem very interested in it anymore, after we exchanged the very old bottom cushions for new ones. it's not cheap in the original yarn, but then it's not a pattern for a quick knit that goes out of fashion any time soon.... I am extremely tempted:)

but before all that I have to make my last batch of blackberry jam - so off to do kitchen duty!





 

another rainy day....

this day already started grey - and didn't improve! shortly after lunch it started to drizzle, first tiny sprays, but by now it's like a white wall of mist out there... no point in doing anything outside, drizzle is just as wet as rain - it only takes slightly longer to get drenched in it:)

it does look quite autumnal though - it's still too warm for autumn, about 18 deg.C, but often windy and we had a good bit of rain last week. humid - and my potatoes won't like it. I hope they don't "catch" blight - they have a bit of catching up to do, because I was late in planting them. the blue and pink fleshed varieties stay fairly small anyway, but pea-sized spuds are not really a delight to use:)

 

I did persevere with my boucle practice over the last few days - and eventually managed a yarn that deserves that name! not sure what to use it for yet, but at least it looks like boucle and has a soft hand! and it's all protein fibres, so I can dye it without much ado if I want to.

 in the middle is my first try, with linen = potscrubber. on the left the second, a bit better, but not really a boucle, it's too densely coiled. on the right finally a boucle - yay:) I think I'll have to buy new alpaca top to spin an amount that I can actually use for a project.... it's a lot of work - for quite a small amount of yardage!

Maisie is loosing her summer coat, she's shedding like mad. I've collected a box full of her undercoat in spring, and together with my "harvest" now I spun a small skein of "chiengora". one wash and the doggy smell is gone, luckily she doesn't have a strong dog odour - yet? in my experience most younger dogs don't have that pong that older dogs can develop... so I'll make the most of it now! this is the second small skein - I think eventually I'll have enough for a hat? oddly enough Maisie is a border collie, black and white - but the yarn is dark brown. very soft though.... 

 the last bit of spinning were two skeins of a three-ply. I spun two bobbins full of slightly rougher yarn and overplied them together. the last strand is a fine (softer) fibre from the same dyepot - I think a remnant of superwash? anyway, I put some clear, silverlined glass beads on it and plied it again. the skein on top is the leftover soft ply, chain-plied together, because I wanted approx. the same thickness as with the beaded yarn. now what to do with it? and when I chain-plied that last bit I didn't think and spun in the wrong direction! I was nearly done and surprised about the odd look of the yarn, when I realized what I had done - so I had to treadle like mad for double the amount and in the other direction to get a proper yarn:)

when I cycle to town, I pass a small stand of goldenrod, solidago virgaurea... usually the county council mows it around this time, so I try to pick it for dyeing. 200 g of teeswater top on the left are from that dye bath; a "cold" yellow with a slightly greenish tinge. the softer yellows on the right side are dyed with frozen dahlia flowers that I wanted to use up. I didn't have enough of my favourite red pompom dahlias, which give a lovely soft orange, so I mixed whatever I had in my bag plus a few fresh blossoms, which ended up a less strong dyebath, but still nice I think. the brown skein across is more teeswater, but from an older dyebath. as usual I have forgotten the dye plant - but I don't care:) it all goes in the bin for my "persian tile blanket".... now I just have to go down to the bog to pick a bag full of reed flowers - I do need a few nice green tones for that blanket!

to show that I didn't slack during my blog pause - here is a photo of a blanket I knitted for my mother. it's called stornoway. I used doubled up fine tweed yarn from kilkarra tweed, which fluffs up nicely after washing - perfect for a warm lap blanket! the main part was a bit boring (esp. as I worked on it during summer - not a good idea, too warm underneath:), just a knit and purl pattern, but I loved knitting the attached cable edging! I think I'll make another one for myself soon. I still have a small cone of this colour and another one of a darker petrol tone, which should go together nicely. 

 

this is an old sweater I made for my son many years back, which I dug out of my stash! I know, it's colourful.... I wouldn't have chosen that colourway myself, but he was a small kid and wanted this one - so I spun and knitted it for him. he was quite happy with it - until he wore it to school one day. normally they wear uniforms here, but they needed to repair the heating, so the kids were told to wear something warm that they like. he came back utterly crushed:( several kids told him that he looks stupid and that they don't like that sweater. he never wore it again, which made me so angry! not because of the work I put in but because he was made so unhappy and insecure that he never wore this again - and has pretty much been wearing dark, muted colours ever since:( I think I will frog the whole thing and make something else with it - a bag maybe? knitted and felted it should be strong enough - and if someone has a problem with me using it as a bag - they can stuff it! luckily at my age I have the luxury of not giving a hoot what other people think about my taste:)  

and to finish it off - here is a picture of one of two sunflowers the slugs haven't managed to finish off in the early stages! it's about 2.20 m high and has three flower buds on top - this big one and two smaller ones behind it! the downside is that I have to stake every sunflower here, because otherwise the wind will just snap them right off:( but I am hoping that the seeds will attract some finches again like last year, where we had a whole group of them partying on several big seed heads for days:)

Second week of Tour de Fleece

I think I might have prepared the TdF a bit better! Maybe I should have prepared small amounts of different fibres that I can finish every day - or at least every second? as it is I have been spinning several days of boring beige alpaca - then only a day each with small amounts, which was fun. now I am back again with spinning days of the same colour - not so much fun! but on the other hand, if I spun only a small amount of one fibre - I'd end up with my usual problem of not spinning the same way for both amounts. the beige alpaca proves the point: my first smaller skein from March is a good deal finer than the main batch from last week:( which means that either I have to use them for two different projects - or I'll have to fiddle about, using the finer yarn for a smaller bit of knitting, and the thicker yarn for the main part. and 250 g of it doesn't leave a lot of choice for projects, where I could use two different amounts:( the woes of hand spinning!

here are the two beige alpaca skeins - on the right. the rest are the naturally dyed fibres that I couldn't find for the last entry.I think all of them were dyed with madder, same dyebath, just different stages - and different temperatures! my favourite is the brighter red on the right - which must have been in the first dye bath, because it didn't get the higher temps of the others. madder turns brick red to brownish, when it gets too hot - and even though they all go well together, the brownish red tones don't suit me terribly well. on the other hand I barely knit woollies for myself, so no worries:) maybe I should start selling my skeins?

 after I finished the alpaca I dug out this sample of camel/silk blend. I think the silk is noil, lots of tiny white slubs - that are not particularly fun to spin. the picture isn't great, but I nearly forgot to take it - and had to use flash inside - or wait until the next day with the spinning... and I did forget to take a picture of the sample of white tussah - which spun up nicely - but was too little to use for a separate project. so I plied both of them together. I had a bit more of the camel - that's the browner part in the skein. it is soft, but nubbly and bumpy at the same time.





This is my latest TdF fibre - either silk or soy silk, I don't know. I think maybe the latter, but either way it spins up into a smooth, shiny single yarn. I will ply it though, as it is it's too fine even for lace knits. I know that I dyed it myself - but I have no idea what the dye stuff was. maybe I should keep better notes???

you can see how fine it is - even with the full amount the bobbin won't be full to capacity! the plying will take forever - I have to be careful not to start it late in the evening - or I'll end up with a late night plying session to prevent the cat "knitting" it up! he isn't interested in the wheel or the fibres lying around, but finding a small ball or the freely hanging plies is irresistible to him. the dogs don't really care, but sometimes they just have to climb to my left side - where the lazy kate stands when in use - which wouldn't be the first time with disastrous consequences....

during our hot spell (over now, back to the normal summer temps of 16 to 18 deg. C:) I dug out my embroidery stuff. after finishing an UFO I made 4 small cards to give away (yes, four, I sent one out too fast and forgot to take a picture). these two were for friends, who needed a bit of a pick-me-up...

... and this (and the missing one) were for birthdays. the other embroidery project in the works is a game board for "snakes and ladders" - which "rested" in my stash for a long time.

 

I don't know why, but somehow I cannot bring myself to knit much these days. there's a sneaker sock in cotton in the works, but if I can convince myself to take it up, I loose interest after a row or two:( I also have to finish the sleeveless vest for DH - not much missing, but I avoid it like the plague just now. I don't even fancy starting a new project - there must be something wrong with me! maybe I just have to finish with the TdF to find my knitting mojo again?

Years later.....

... I had planned to write posts many times, but there was always something more urgent to do... but of course I haven't stopped crafting; I think you'd have to cut my arms off to keep me away from fibres and yarns! I did take photos most of the time, but if I listed all of them now, this entry wouldn't be finished any time soon...

 

so I decided I might show pix here and there from things I made during the last two or so years, but only if the projects were "special" - no point in showing you the umpteenth pair of ordinary socks etc.

 

for now I only changed the header - as you can see summer is in full swing here! actually, we haven't had a summer like this since I first came over! we had no rain whatsoever for practically a whole month (luckily we had a massive "downpour" - for an hour - on the 8th of june, which filled all of our tanks!) - and we had several days with well over 30 deg. C - extremely unusual for us! there is a hosepipe ban in many areas now and tourists are gobsmacked, when they come with raingear and wellies - and need shorts and sunscreen:)  

I am not a fan of high temperatures - I am happy enough with 20 deg. C,  or even less when I have to cycle! so I try to work outside before 10 am and after 8 pm - otherwise I might just melt:( but I have to admit that everything that I do water grows well just now. it must be a warm summer here - as I discovered this evening, a rare artemisia plant, which only ever flowers in very warm climates has set its first flower bud! I've had that plant for at least 15 years, if not more - it's never flowered before, so I am looking forward to the result:) pity that my Dictamnus died a few years back - or I might have been able to see for myself that during great heat the ess. oils of the flowering plants can ignite!

 

anyway, enough of the catching up - the main thing that convinced me to start blogging again was the TdF - the Tour de Fleece! I have never taken part - but I thought I might give it a try, seeing as I can't work outside during the day anyway. not that I wouldn't spin otherwise - it's far to warm to knit anything woolly - so I have been spinning practically daily - and here is proof:

 

the batch on the left is teeswater top - I had to use up this years' batch of easter egg colours and when I saw the fibres I couldn't resist spinning them up. I think eventually I'll make the "Persian Tiles" blanket with some of them - but for now they've gone from the fibre stash to the yarn stash....

the softer colours on the right are teeswater as well, but dyed with natural dyes a good while back. I have no idea, which colour goes with what plant though, but it doesn't really matter anyway. the white hank in the middle is ramie - and the beige skein on the right of it is a naturally beige alpaca I was given a few months ago. it was named top, but I am quite sure that it isn't. it's soft enough, but contains a lot of short fibres and looks more like a batt stripped lengthwise? when I started spinning it the weather was grey and cold - and after one bobbin full I couldn't face beige anymore - that's when I started with the vibrant easter egg funk:)  

 

 teeswater top is nice to spin - for a while. after all those hanks in the 1st picture, I needed something different though, so I started to dig around in my stash - and found a large bag full of naturally dyed tops. I had forgotten about those! we did a dyeing session in our craft group a few years back, but we had way to many fibres prepared, so we divided them between the members - and I think this lot was south american top. it's not as cottony soft as merino, has more grip - but the yarn is soft enough to be worn close to the skin. I have no idea (again, recurring theme.....) how I dyed, but looking at the picture I realize that I must have put quite a few madder dyed skeins elsewhere... and there was some yellow, too. never mind, but as you can see - I've been spinning regularly during the last few months:)

 

I decided not to buy anything new for the TdF - plenty of fibres in stash to use up! first of all, while I am still full of drive, I'll finish the beige alpaca. if I don't dawdle I should manage that in two or three days! I can always reward myself with something more colourful afterwards:) I'll spin more "default" yarn, 2ply, not too chunky, so that all the yarns could be used together eventually.

this was my spinning spot outside for today - it was bearable under the parasol, but I might have to move back inside again if it gets any warmer. because I spun the first skein of alpaca on the old Louet I'll keep using it, so that the yarn comes out the same (without thinking about it, I am sure I could fiddle around with the Lendrum to make it match, but I am too lazy to do that:)

 

 and this is a close-up of the alpaca - as you can see it's quite "flat" and more batt-like than like top? of course tea and cookies are needed for fortification purposes:)

so I am going to try to post at least every few days - maybe once the fibres are finished and I start something new again. I haven't decided yet what to do on the "challenge" days - I wanted to try boucles again, but I think I don't have suitable fibres for that. maybe cotton or even hemp? not sure yet, but there's still time to dig something "challenging" up for the monday after next. I'd rather spin nettles - then cycle the mountain days the cyclists have to face:)

are you spinning the TdF as well?

Happy Easter!

 

I can't believe that we've already reached the end of march - maybe that's because the weather doesn't exactly feel like spring. the daffodils are out in force, but it's pretty nippy out there, lots of rain - the day before yesterday we had a storm etc... we did have 10 dry days in a row, some with lovely sunshine, but it was too short - and of course the bad weather was back in time for easter. we have our own small tradition here that I dye fresh easter eggs early on sunday morning - and hide them in the garden before breakfast. and even though Stefan is 18 now - he still wanted me to do it:) the easter bunny might not mind, but I didn't fancy going out in one of those spring downpours, so today was the first easter without that tradition - after 16 or 17 years! I think the disappointment wasn't too bad - he was out late yesterday and too sleepy to care much about anything:)

another tradition is to grow some cress - to have a nice "grass" background for the coloured eggs (of course, cress does go well with hard-boiled eggs). some daffodils and the usual flowering branches with painted eggs (blown out and decorated many years ago!) have to be on the breakfast table, too. and the knitfelted egg cozies that I only use once a year:)  

 

easter wouldn't be the same without daffodils! at this time of the year they grow everywhere here, some seem to pop up out of nowhere, no houses in sight, not even old ruins - so I think birds or ants must have spread the seeds for them to grow - as far as I know there are no wild growing "native" daffodils in our part of the world. these I picked as deco for today - but I leave most of them outside, esp. the dwarf varieties that don't suffer from wind damage so much. after the storm many of the longer stemmed ones are flattened to the ground - the one drawback with this flower, because once they're flattened they don't recover:(

 

 those little ducklings were the result of seeing a photo on pinterest... each of them decorates a cadbury's egg - and they have moved out of here and live in Berlin now. they are open at the bottom, so they can be refilled every year with a new sweet bounty! I had to hurry up when I took the photo, because the cat seemed to be veeeery interested with those newcomers in the garden!

 

 

 

of course I didn't only knit little ducks - I also tried out the cotton sock yarn I was given a little while back. it looks the same as woollen yarns, but the yardage is slightly less and the knitting is a bit denser on 2.5 mm needles. it feels nice and wears well, but I think one would need 2 balls for socks larger than maybe size 43!

and I only discovered in the photo that a line runs along the sock where the needles changed - I think that isn't so visible with woollen sock yarn, because it is more elastic than the cotton? the colour in the upper picture is too blue, the one on the left is a better match. I like that the leg slouches nicely - but the feet are tight enough to stay put.

 

but now it's time for "dinner" - a rather non-festive thing, after we ate some nice rhubarb cake and quite a few easter eggs of the chocolatey kind:) have a nice and colourful easter!

good weather...

 

... not for going out, no - but for crafting away inside:) we're having the "punishment" for the lovely september weather; a lot of rain, often windy, foggy, cool - or maybe it just seems that way after the long spell of nice weather? it's normal november weather really, nothing unusual for us at this time of the year. just this morning I heard on the radio that it's only 6 weeks until christmas! maybe it's for the best that the weather isn't exactly gardening friendly, otherwise I'd be even more behind in my christmas crafting:)

 

I seem to have reached the age, where the eyesight changes. lately it's become a bit difficult to wear my glasses, when doing finer stuff close-up. which means that knitting in front of the tv isn't so great. either I can't see my knitting properly or I can't see the screen. that's why I've been spinning a lot - I don't need to put away the glasses to see the spinning:) but it also means that I've not been as productive with the needles as I should! it's not even project spinning, some of the tops just popped out of bags I've dug out of storage!

 I found mohair top that I dyed with cochenille at least 3 years ago... it's darker in real life, but as shiny as it looks in the picture. very smooth and dense - probably good for lace knitting, though I think I wouldn't like it close to the skin...

this on the other hand is 75 % viscose, 25 % silk. very smooth, very shiny - and extremely heavy! probably nice to wear, though too chunky for lace and I have no idea what to use it for! I bought a kilo of this, but I only have 650 g now - no idea, where the rest of it went. but I am sure I haven't knitted it into anything, I would remember! off to the stash - for now.... 

these are some of the teeswater tops I dyed here and there. I think the green on the left and the red were dyed with leftover easter egg dyes, the right one is far darker green and not so grey looking in spots - the camera is playing up again! all of them would be suitable in thickness for the "persian dreams" blanket - but I am not sure that the colours would work well together... we'll see about that. over the last few years I dyed and spun quite a lot of the teeswater top, there should be plenty more colours for this. I do have to spin a load of the main colour first though:) not sure if it's going to be natural white - or if I should dye it black? 

this is the result of spinning the blending board rolags from my last post. it's much more blended than my usual batts from the drum carder - probably, because I don't like putting the fibres through the drums too often (sheer laziness:). it's easer to do on the board, though it probably takes longer to load and draw off again.  

I also finally finished the baby alpaca cardigan! I don't know why I procrastinated for so long, it took ages to knit, even though the spinning went smoothly. it must have been the sleeve caps, because I had to block the parts first to calculate a proper fit... I used attached i-cord all around and put in button holes for the front.  I hope it arrives safely with the recipient and soon (for some reason the mail to Berlin always takes longer than to any other german destinations:()

 

 

the pattern is called horseshoe lace, simple to knit, just 8 rows (or was it 10?) and a 10 st repeat. if you turned it over it might be called angel wings:)  

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

those two cowls are the leftover silk threads from the first petal cowl plus some black handspun merino from my stash. for the first one below I worked the purl rows plus the k row before in colour, but there wasn't enough silk left to do that in the 2nd cowl. so I only worked the purl rows, which means that some of them look like sashiko embroidery:) but maybe the slightly more muted look makes it easier to wear, if you don't want to look too colourful?:) it's wider as well, because I realised after knitting the first one that I don't like cowls so tight-fitting!

 

 

 the blocking was fun with those two - I rolled up two rubber foam fillings for neck rolls into a towel and pulled over the cowls. no pinning involved.....

and of course I had to make more rolags:) these two batches went as spinning fodder to Berlin as well - I used similar greens, but more yellows and rusty reds, so that the yarn should look more autumnal than the greens I spun up myself. it's mostly merino and south american wool, plus handdyed silk and soy silk for the glitz. 

I also found some bigger sample bags in my stash. the dark brown is yak, there's guanaco, alpaca, some angora and cashmere and the shiny beige is soy silk, dyed with coffee. it still smells like coffee, after such a long time in the bag:) the rolag diameter is much smaller because the fibres were fairly short - apart from the soy silk. I hope I am going to see a photo of this when spun up - could turn out to be cafe latte?:)

 

 

 

 

 

 

when I am not spinning or knitting I am making embroidered christmas cards. just 6 weeks left - tick tock:)

if time flies....

...where does it go? there must be a huge heap of it somewhere, because I sure don't have any to spare!

 

anyway, before I start writing a whole entry of excuses, let's just say I've been too busy to blog:) I did however knit, spin, garden etc... and I can show you a few results:

 

 I made a blending board out of a piece of carding cloth and the bread board my son made as a woodwork project in school (the timber would be too soft to cut something on it, but it's perfect for the new job!) - the downside of this is that making rolags like these is addictive! once I start I can't stop and I work away until the fibre bag is empty! and just now I realised that I forgot to take a pic of the spun yarn... hopefully I'll be quicker with the next entry!

 I didn't only spin the green rolags, I also finished the handdyed purple superwash, which I plied with a fine blue bamboo single yarn - and some leftover fine soy silk, when I ran out of blue... I started a cowl with it, because it is very soft and feels good on the skin.

I also spun a good skein each of red and green teeswater top, which had been hanging on the rack for a long time. didn't wash it yet though, but maybe my next blog entry could show you all the finished skeins I forgot here:)

 

and I hope that those berries are still on the shrub, when I need some colour for my christmas wreath! 

 our group project for the Connacht Textile Crafters was "houses" of any kind. I don't have much space to put purely decorative things up, so I decided to make something useful instead. I made a roll out of knit/felted gotland, which I lined with fabric to hold my crochet hooks. the roll is held together by a "roof" in green. to make it a bit prettier I added sea glas for roof windows. I embroidered some vines on and windows, added knitted curtains, a little bell with loop - and a silk fuchsia for decoration. the edge of the roll forms the "door" to the fairy cottage.

 

there were as many different houses as there were makers, everything from felt to zentangled paper houses. they will be put on show in the Museum of Country Life in Castlebar - I think in November/December, if I am not mistaken!

close-up of the crocheted fuchsia  

of course I have to cave in and buy a few cross stitch magazines "shortly" before christmas - same story every year in september! this time there was a freebie of 3 mouse cards on it, perfect for my mouse-loving friend's christmas card. I will frame them all together into one card, because I doubt that I can find a ready-made fitting card for this odd size! I was very proud of myself to finish the first christmas card in september, but since then I didn't manage a single one - so maybe I should pull my head in and do a few more instead of boasting:)  

I do have a good excuse though! I found the perfect pattern for my birthday gift of 5 gorgeous naturally dyed skeins of silk yarn (find more here). the pattern is called "petal cowl" by Xandy Peters. the original uses a multi-coloured yarn, but of course you can use separate yarns - you just have to darn in a few more ends:) and I have to admit that a yarn with wool content might be easier to use, because the non-elastic silk yarn was a bit tight in places and the very unusual way of increasing (12 sts into 1!) would probably look a bit tidier in stretchy wool. I find the pattern really unusual, but not terribly difficult to knit once you get the idea behind it. the next pattern in that direction will be the "Foxpaws" (on ravelry) - but I haven't chosen a yarn for that yet. oh, and I used up the short lengths of silk by making two more petal cowls. the main colour is black and the "zing" silk is only used as an accent. and the cowls are smaller, close to the neck.

 

and before I start with the foxpaws I am going to knit the "morvarch" shawl by Lucy Hague - which I would probably have finished by now, if I hadn't made a mistake at the beginning of the center! I blame the magic loop method (I know that I have a shorter 3.25 mm circ, but I haven't found it - yet...), which pulls the knitting together, so that I couldn't see the mistake. you can see 3 purl stitches, where there shouldn't be any! I debated whether to rip or not - but it was bang in the middle and I know I'd just stare at it every time I look at the shawl - so I pulled it all apart again.....

 

 another project by the CTC was our 2nd postcard exchange. last time I knitted a piece in estonian lace; this time I wanted to do something different, so I dug out a piece of marbled cotton I made in a workshop years back and added some embroidery and beads. the back of course looks like a postcard, with lines for the address etc. - just in fabric. I called the pattern streamers, looks like a bit of fireworks to me.

and this is the card I received in exchange - totally different in style, just like the houses. this won't be used - I'll keep it myself as a memento of our exchange.

 

so you see, I haven't been lazy all that time. the garden is taking a bit of a back seat by now, most of the leaves have fallen and when the mornings are misty and damp, you can see the other "weavers and spinners" outside at work (see header). christmas is coming closer, so out come the needles, yarns and threads:) I need more christmas cards.....