What I didn't plan on happening when I was "Full Crafting Ahead" was getting sick. But after a week of being exhausted and tired with a virus, I am now on the mend and slowly gaining momentum and speeding up towards full crafting again.
I did get a few packages in the mail though, the contents of which (and to no one's surprise) were some new spindles, three new support spindles and another Turkish Spindle to join my quickly growing collection.
Two new Phang support spindles, which I believe are Himalayan support spindles. The first is in Exotic Zebra Wood and is 49.9gms.
The second is in Tasmanian Lacewood and is 32.3gms.
My third support spindle is a Tibetan "Torus" made from Blackheart Teatree with a Dymondwood shaft with stirling silver on the whorl, weighing 32gms.
And another Turkish drop spindle to join my collection, this one made from Flame Rosewood with a West Australian Jarrah shaft, weighing 29.1gms.
I have only really just begun to spin on supported spindles this month and after a bit of trial and error, and a stack of patience, I am starting to get the hang of it. I still love my drop spindles at the moment, but who knows. I have had a few spinners tell me that once I start on supported spindles I will become very addicted! Too late, already there! :)
And as I seem to be totally addicted to spindles at the moment, I'm sure there will be more to come. I could think of worse things to be addicted to than spindle spinning and craft :) Needless to say, there will probable be fibre on at least one of these by the end of the day.
Happy Spinning! :)
I managed to finish off the paper roses that I was making and I added some pearls and threaded them onto a stem in to two bunches.
I'm quite happy with the effects and the two different papers, old book pages and old sheet music, really give each bunch their own personality.
I have also dyed and started to spin some merino wool in preparation for the Ravelry Spin A Shawl, SKAL. I have chosen the pattern, Bitterroot, so all I have to decide now is if I should 2ply the singles or navajo ply the singles and keep the colour sections?
Any way, I have more to share from yesterday's craft session but more on that later. Right now I have to go and help out with the bushfires down here. It's hot and blowing a gale.
Happy crafting everyone and stay cool!
After managing to get back onto Ravelry yesterday I have managed to spend many hours trawling through the forums, finding many different projects and ideas. Needless to say, I have now got a bit of an inspiration overload and just can't decide what to do first.
So when in doubt as what to do, I spin. Failing that, I change crafts.
This time I have moved away from fibre crafts all together and have instead turned to paper craft. Nothing like going in a completely new direction.
With my love for recycling things, I came across some old sheet music and an old incomplete book in amongst my stash, kept because they might come in use one day. With a bit of thought I dug out the ink stains I had and set about colouring one side on the old sheets of paper. I then cut them out into spirals and twirled them in a spiral and glued them to make roses.
And then I went back to Ravelry, because I'm so addicted again already, and I have found a hand-spun shawl knit-a-long (KAL). So now I am on the hunt for some fibre. Nothing like mixing it up a bit! :)
Happy Crafting! :)
I got a lovely surprise in the mail today, a Spindle! Because I seem to have this addiction to total insanity-fueled spindle spinning, so I found the lightest, tiniest spindle I could find...
My new teeny-weeny Jenkin's Kuchulu Turkish Drop Spindle!
It only weights 6gms...
Perfect for spinning cobweb singles... (that's if I could see the damn thread!)...
And it fits snugly into the palm of my hand! It spins like a dream... and it's just too cute to resist :)
I have come across a spinning challenge on Ravelry called "The Pack It On Challenge." I have something special in mind for this little spindle, so this challenge will be a great test to determine how much I can "pack on" to this teeny-weeny spindle! If you are interested, here is the link:
http://www.ravelry.com/discuss/spindle-candy/2832685/1-25
I can't wait to see how much I can fit onto it.
Happy Spinning! :)
Last week I purchased a pair of combs for my wool preparation. I must say that is it far better than just using a single comb or even a flick carder, and the hand pulled roving/tops is a dream to spin.
The simple process of combing the fibres from one comb to the next makes a nice puff of open fibres, all aligned in the one direction with no short pieces, twigs or grass seeds.
This is the end result of the fleece that I solar dyed last week. My first impression of these combs was why didn't I know about this two years ago! I'm going back to do some more combing because its so easy and fun!
Happy Crafting! :)
A couple of other projects that I came across are these two; The knitted circular shawl and the crocheted never ending granny square.
The shawl was a project that I started late last year when I had the inspiration to work on one major project each month. needless to say this project didn't quite get finished in the month I started it, so I am working on it at the moment. It is slowly growing, as it currently has around 288 stitches on it. The next increase round though will have about 576 stitches, needless to say it grows slower with each round.
The baby blanket was my second attempt at the never ending granny square, this time only with three colours instead of five. I really like this technique as it grows quickly but is a bit more interesting than the normal granny square.
I wonder what else I will find in my project stash ... Happy Crafting till then! :)
When I had the mad urge to a spring clean of the studio last week I came across a couple of projects that I had forgotten about, simply because I had started too many new ones! One of which was a pair of toe-up socks on a circular needle that, searching back through the blog photo's, I started about 6 months ago! So I sat down last weekend and knitted the ribbed top and cast them off.
Having taken so long to finish this pair, (and realising that the few pairs of socks that I do have are on their way out), I decided that I should get a wriggle on start knitting the next pair. So I did.
I have only ever just knitted plain stocking stitch socks and let the colours do the talking, mainly because I hadn't knitted socks before and I wanted to get the hang of it first. I also couldn't figure out why I would go to the effort to putting a pattern into them when most of the time you can't see them. Then I realised that it makes knitting them a bit more interesting when you use a pattern, so this pair is going to be a bit more interesting and already I am finding it quicker to knit.
Because I like knee high socks they take a bit longer to knit up compared to "normal" socks, so I have been trying to do at least a few rounds each day. I have also put all of the sock yarn (that I can find in my stash at the moment), into the one project bag, that way I know where it is and I can jump straight into the next pair when I cast off the current pair.
Will keep you posted on the progress, so Happy Knitting! :)
