New Website!

My New Website Is Here!

New Years "Craft" Resolution...

Every New Year marks the start of another year and a clean slate as far as goals go. I know we often look back and go "well that sure didn't happen" or "I still haven't finished that", but really, we get a chance to clean the slate and start again :)

So! My New Years Craft Resolution is to try and stick to and achieve these goals :)

• Spin Every day this year, using my spindles and wheels and try and spin my stash in the process (I will be setting up a page to keep track of this personal challenge)
• Personally, Go "Cold Sheep" for the first 6 months (so no purchasing of fibre or yarn for my personal stash)
• Have a major Stash Down 
• Have NO WIP's at the end of the year, as they are seriously starting to get out of control!
• Master Bobbin and finish a large Lace project
• Learn Card Weaving
• Master Tatting and Finish my large Tatting pieces
• Attempt to finish my Queen Size Crochet Blanket (This one is a huge goal! So I will be happy to get most of it done, if it happens to be the ONLY WIP I have at the end of the year :)
• Finish my big rug Tapestry Weaving :)
• Write everyday :)

I also have a few other things in the pipeline for my online small business Liz Green Arts, so stay tuned for some announcements in the future, as things are starting to grow from the plans I made!

So, these are my goals this year, simple yet massive, but I'm still going to give them a go :) And I have already started with 3 days of spinning and I've been working n my WIP's while I'm on holidays! Yay! So what are your NY's Crafting Resolutions?

Happy Crafting!

Days Spinning: 3/365     Days Missed: 0/365  
Days Writing: 3/365       Days Missed: 0/365
WIP's Completed so far this year: 0

Spindle Spinning & A Warped Loom

So it took me most of today to get around to warping my loom. And this is the reason why...

Two things were sitting on my table this morning after I took some photo's of the dry tops I solar dyed; A loom waiting to be warped and the container with all my new spindles, waiting and begging to be used.

So the spindles won.

This spindle Would be the largest and heaviest spindle I own, weighing in at a massive 125gms! I found it on my holidays in a little craft shop and was handmade by a local. It is very different to spin in comparison to my lace weight spindles, but at the very least it is making me spin thicker yarn!

I then went from one extreme to the other; from the largest and heaviest to the tiniest and lightest.  

This one is one of the two lightest Drop Spindles I own (at the current point in time). It is a Subterranean Turkish Spindle made from Curly Maple and Sapele, weighing only 15gms. Apart from the fact that I seem to be spinning ridiculously fine on it, it has massive cute factor with being so small.

Despite all the spindle spinning, I now have a warped loom and I have woven the first little section. It isn't much to show (I've spent most of the day spindling!), but it is a start. I wanted to try a few new things with this weaving piece, so will have to come up with a bit of a design.

Anyway, I'm going to go and do some more weaving and spinning. Happy crafting! :)

Spindle Spinning - A Good Start To The Day

So as most of you will know, it is damn hot in Southern Australia at the moment. Despite that, after a restless night sleep spent surfing the internet for ideas, I have done a bit of spindle spinning, knitting and I am about to warp my small loom.

Before it got too hot I managed to rinse out some solar dyeing jars and laid the wet tops out on drying racks in the sun to dry. I will do a post on Solar Dyeing once the tops have dried, which in this heat, probably tomorrow!

So to pass the many hours this morning in not being able to sleep, I pulled out one of my new spindles and started to spin on it. It is a Jason Riley Turkish Spindle made of Sapwood and Hickory and is 22gms. I am currently spinning CamelBunny-Silk on it and loving it!

I showed a photo a while back of my Jenkins Turkish Delight Spindle with some of my hand dyed tops in tones of orange, gold and hot pink. Well I have finished it, plyed it and wrapped into a skein. I am now spinning some hand-dyed Merino Optim on it and I must say that I am loving the results, even if it is fine!

Well I'm off to warp my loom up so I shall keep you posted. Happy Crafting! :)

Time for some serious crafting!

Now that that Christmas madness had been and gone for another year it is time to enjoy the sun, break out the dye pots and get busy designing and crafting! It has been a little hectic but with the beginning of the new year it is time for some serious crafting! 

I do apologise for the long gap between posts, needless to say Christmas is a crazy time of year, not helped by the fact that I wasn't as organised as I normally am. We also decided to go on a holiday, one I was hoping to get some crafting done on it, but again, not as much as I would have liked got done. So I have a bit of catching up to do :) 

Just before Christmas I decided that I didn't have enough drop spindles, as I always wanted to be spinning something different on the few I had. So, as my Christmas present to me, along with some exotic fibers to play with, I purchased around 12 new drop spindles. I love having the extra spindles to be able to spin something different should the need arise :) I will share them as I do some spinning on them.

This spindle is the first of my new spindles that I started to spin on while I was traveling back on the train. It is a Ken Ledbetter mini modula. It is 22.5gms and has a Maple Burl whorl with a Burbinga hook piece. The three different shafts that came with it are made from various woods. I am spinning a blend of Tussah Silk and Merino Wool on it and I am loving the finished singles.

I did manage to do some weaving while I was away on holidays and had a go at making some shoulder bags. I liked the results, even if they were a bit rough, with one more complicated than the other.

I also managed to do some tatting on a new piece I started a while back. I had done the first round and left it at that, unsure if I should continue it. As we drove around a bit, tatting proved to be the ideal project to do in the car, so I expanded on the first row and I am on the way to finishing the third row of rosetts.

I hope you are having fun crafting this holidays :)

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! :)

June 30th Weekly Update

Well I know I have been a bit quiet on here this week, still getting used to the idea of the blog, but I have been busy.

• Monday I did some weaving and finished a scarf that I had warped up some time ago. I also found and started again my Tapestry Diary.

• Tuesday I managed to do some of my Tapestry Diary and wind all of the skeins I had sitting on my table into balls.

• Wednesday I warped up, wove and washed another scarf that was an order for a customer.

• Thursday I had a play with a knitted drop stitch lace pattern and made a prototype scarf  out of some recycled wool. I was happy with the technique after a few miss starts and much un-knitting!

• Friday I spent most of the day knitting some rows on a wrap that I started for my Mum but didn't quite get finished in time for Mother's Day.

• Yesterday I spent the day with a friend threading beads onto wire to make some beaded roses.

• Today I have done some spinning on my new wheel and I have finally finished the pair of socks I started.

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

Until next week, happy crafting! :)