Not Enough Hours In The Day

It has been a crazy weekend and week so far with a huge show and tell at craft group on the weekend and many things on the go with our up and coming open day. I have been madly spinning on my new spindles and now have a fair amount on my Spotted Gum spindle. I'm not quite sure what I am going to use the finished yarn for yet, but I love spinning it all the same.

I have been madly knitting my shawl but I have to face the fact that I'm just not quite going to get it done today. I have also been doing a bit of knitting on the Domino scarp rug and it is starting to come along nicely. 

I also have the craft group knit-along to do before our next meet. The current project is a cute knitted toy which I thought I would have a go at making. What are people's thoughts about having a knit-along and crochet-along group on the blog? Email me you thoughts, I would love to hear them.

I also managed to get around to crocheting a sampler of a row by row scrap rug pattern that someone had suggested as a challenge. It took me a few goes to get the pattern right but I think it is coming along nicely.

Other than that I have been re-organising my studio space and now have a large area to play in. There are so many things I want to do at the moment but there just isn't enough hours in the day to do it all, unless I don't sleep that is. No matter, I will just have to do as much craft as I can in the time I have in between the "housework" and running around. So until the next crafting session, happy crafting! :)

More bits & pieces plus Goodies!

So I am back in the studio, a bit earlier than yesterday, and It is only after reviewing yesterday's post that I realised the photo's didn't load. So take two.

 

Here is the crochet sampler, my slowly growing shawl and the stitched together squares for my wagga-patchwork quilt.

Today I have added some more rounds on my shawl while I waited for the postie this morning and having the all important first cuppa of the day. I also stitched together a large piece of cloth for my wagga-patchwork backing and found an old blanket that had seen better days for my middle "stuffing". I must admit it's quite big as I went through a whole packet of patchwork pins, and that is with only one pin per square!

Then the most exciting part of the day, my friend who went to the Bendigo Sheep & Wool Show bought me in my goodies. :) I have a few different fibers and bags of fluff to play with and three new spindles to play with, a Russian Supported Spindle, Turkish Spindle and another nice "normal" top whorl spindle. :) As promised, here is the photo.

Well I think I might go and play with the new spindles and see if I can spin on the Russian one. Until then, happy crafting! :)

Sewing & A Bit Of Everything Else ...

While the week might have started out a bit slow, it is starting to pick up again. Like the other week when all I wanted to do was knit, this week all I seem to be doing is sewing ... and a little bit of everything else too.

I spent all day Tuesday in town so all I managed for the day was a few rounds of knitting on my shawl and a little bit of Quaker Tapestry. I may not have done as much as I would have liked to, but I did do something crafty for the day and that is all that matters really.

Wednesday I spent the whole day sewing. I don't have any photos to share as I was working on my wedding dress all day. Once the wedding has been and gone, then I will show you a photo of the dress, so you will just have to wait until then.


And today was no exception for the sewing bug. I found a couple of old table cloths in my mending pile that had holes in them. After assessing the damage and the potential for repair, I decided it just wasn't going to survive the other end. So I cut them up into squares and stitched them all together to make a "wagga" styled patchwork quilt. 

Then I got a bit stuck on what I was going to do next with this stitched up material piece, so I finished off my crochet sample square which will be used for a group project at the Woolies craft group.

That finished, what to do next ... so I jumped on the internet and searched "Wagga" and started doing a bit more research into what it actually was. So of course, I now have more ideas running through my head so I went back to my squares to experiment!

I shall keep you posted, until then, happy crafting! :)

Not Quite, But Getting There

Well I didn't quite get to my crochet challenge yesterday. I will admit that when I woke up I did have all intentions of tackling the crochet challenge I had been given, but it was windy. Now I know you are thinking that a windy day is a good excuse to stay inside and craft, but windy days are also good for wind-sports with a promise of a day of fun.

So I was taken on a mystery drive with my new BloKart and learned for the first time how to use it. What can I say, I love it and I really can't wait for the next windy day to have some more fun. If you have never heard about them, check them out, they really are good fun.

Today I have been thinking about how I am going to undertake this new challenge. There are so many people who have commented on my scrap rug and the pattern that used, that someone has challenged me to make a beanie and scarf with the same look. While the concept is simple enough, the original pattern is done in a rounds, not rows, so I am in the middle of re-vamping the pattern.

In the mean time, what else would I be doing but knitting. My project for the month, The Traveling Shawl, is slowly growing. With the month 2/3's gone, I will admit that the shawl isn't quite 2/3's done, but it is getting there. I haven't got the camera with me today so I can't post a photo of it today, but I will have another photo for you by the end of the week. After all, August isn't that far away!

Happy crafting! :)

Spinning, Knitting, Crochet & Quaker Tapestry

So once again the weekend is here and I have a chance to have some fun in the studio. Today I tried a few different things as I just couldn't decide what to do first.

My friend is at the Bendigo Wool & Sheep Show and after getting off the phone to her I felt inspired to spin. She is bringing me back some yummy things to play with, including some new spindles, so I shall post a photo once I get them. 

I have a few wheels, four at my current count, and I have been playing with my Tara wheel this morning. It is a beautiful wheel to spin on, but I can't seem to get the tension right today, so I have swapped to my good old Ashford.

To continue the inspired spinning, and for something a bit different, I then did a little bit of spindle spinning on my Turkish Delight. The merino tops I am using on my Turkish Delight I hand dyed and after falling in love with the colours I decided that I would make a lace weight yarn out of it. What I am going to do with the ridiculously fine yarn when I have finished spinning it, I have no idea, but I am sure something will come to me.

The knitting craze continues with a few rows added to my scrap rug. I must admit I am tempted at the moment to just sit down all day with my tub of scrap blue wool and just knit and knit and knit ... but then I wouldn't have anything to knit later - HA! Then a few more rows on my pair of socks, which are now starting to grow more quickly now that I am past the heel.

I have also had an inspiration to crochet again. I thought I would make a couple of baby rugs. I like crocheting rugs but at the moment I have no inclination to make anything massive, so I thought a baby rug was a good start as I have had a few people ask if I have any available for purchase. So I have been having a bit of a play this afternoon with a couple of new crochet patterns to find a nice one to start with.

And to finish the day off, I decided to add a little bit more to my Quaker Tapestry square for the joint project at craft group. I am enjoying the textural aspect of this style of tapestry embroidery and I think I might use this style for a larger project I have in mind. But I think at the moment the idea will stay in my project book as I think I might have just a few too many projects on the go, Lol.

Until next time, happy crafting! :)

P.S. I have been given a crochet challenge by a friend, so I might just have to have a play with it tomorrow. If you have a challenge for me, please feel free to email it to lizgreenarts@gmail.com as I am always up for something new! Thanks, Liz :)

My crazy week and a bit

Well what can I say, I have been busy again and once more forgotten to update my blog on a weekly basis. So I have decided that perhaps it would be more interesting to post about what it is I am doing at the time here, rather than just on the pages above.

So last week, as you can tell from the knitting page, I did a lot of knitting. needless to say, the last couple of days when I have been traveling into town on the bus I have also done a lot of knitting!

Today I have been knitting my socks again after having knitted the heals on the weekend. Hopefully, fingers crossed, this time next week I should have a pair of nice warm wool socks that I can wear. :)

Yesterday I did a bit of knitting on the dog coat and it is now quiet large. Shall keep you posted.

So until next time, Happy CRAFTING! :)

July 7th Weekly Update

I have managed to get totally hooked into making scarves that I have only just realised that I haven't done my weekly up date, now 3 days late. Well I can't control my crafting flare and I have been busy! But here is the week's update, even though it's late. :)

• Monday I managed to finish my Mum's knitted wrap that was her Mothers Day present back in May. Just a little bit late but I have it on good authority that it was worth waiting for.

• Tuesday I finished the crochet scrap rug that i started many years ago. I finally decided that it was big enough (not to mention it took forever to do one row!), and I can now start another one.

• Wednesday I decided I couldn't stay away from the Entrelac technique so I have started a scarf. 

• Thursday I decided to start the knitted shawl as the project for the month. Inspired by Elizabeth Zimmermann's Knitter's Almanac.

• Friday I warped up my loom again and wove a scarf...

• Saturday I wove another scarf...

• And Sunday another one! :) Like I said, I got hooked on weaving scarves! :)

I have also made some progress with my Tapestry Dairy, so keep checking the weaving page for updates. While I did miss 2 days this last week, I'm still trying to do some most days, and that is something.

Until next week, happy crafting! :)