Thursday, December 23, 2010

Baby and bugs

Only I could pick up a virus just before Christmas; coughing my lungs out which really annoys me because I've been going to Power Plate exercise since April and have felt so well.  Hope I don't feel so bad tomorrow as I'll have to do a grocery shop for the weekend which means a 20 Kilometer drive each way.

The great news is that Jack Andrew arrived on 17 December and is a really cute little garden gnome treasure.  I had forgotten just how tiny bubs are.

On the weaving front I really worked hard and got 4 blankets off to Pauanesia before we had our family Christmas get together just before Jack arrived.  But there was so much going on I completely forgot to get photos and one was onsold before they even got to the shop.  This is one as seen on the loom.
Shock, horror.  My studio has been reinfested with carpet beatle.  And its appeared in other parts of the house as well.  Where ever wool has been left on the carpet its been munched so I had to take everything out of the loom room, shake it in the bath and now the floor has been sprayed.  I've reorganised my yarn shelves to try to make more space but I really must use up at least some of the stash soon.

One thing which has been taking up quite a lot of space was some knitting I had done using loom waste all knotted together.  The plan was to make a jacket but it made me look the size of a house so I've stitched up across the shoulders and the front opening, frogged the sleeves and am now knitting an edge on the sides and it can be a knee rug or animal blanket.  I'll take it to the SPCA op shop which has just opened in Waihi.

Hope you all have a wonderful holiday season and will look forward to sharing more fibre adventures next year.

Thursday, December 2, 2010

Sewing, dyeing and spinning

A very long time ago my lovely daughter in law asked me to make cushions from her wedding frock - what else can you do with a frock no one wants to buy.  I procrastinated for a long time because it was just too pretty to cut up but have finally made a start with three cushions, using the beadwork from the frock and using a grey thread to machine embroider to break up the white.
As you can see the cushions are sitting on the Tree of Life throw which I threw (well placed carefully) into the dye pot and it (along with a pair of boottees) is now a lovely minty bluey colour (Landscape dye called Tasman).  Also another pair of boottees in a varigated green, mint, blue yarn.

I've been spending the evenings spinning after waffling through the days not being able to focus on anything and spending a lot of time just sitting.   This is how I spend my springs due to pollen allergies and lack of sleep due to heat and humidity.  Thank goodness I'm coming out of it with the start of summer.
This was a sliver from Little Wool Company, 50% halfbred wool, 30% kid mohair, 20% silk.  I'd query the kid mohair bit, more like grandma but very pretty.  The wool was black and deep navy running together and the mohair and silk different pastel tones, gold, olive, green, mauve, pink and more.  I've Navajo plied it to keep the quite long bands of colour running reasonably true.  There is over 400 gms so I'm thinking maybe use it for weft in fabric or ...?  Why do we call it Navajo plying?  I assumed it came from the American Indians but I've read American literature where its called "chaining off".

This was a tiny bit of singles left on a bobbin so I plied it with commercial navy cashmere and everytime I came to a bit silver I made a bobble.
I have been weaving but no pictures yet.  I've made a piece to put into the Waihi Summer Festival Exhibition in January.  I've started weaving a pale pink cotton scarf in bead leno on the table loom which, if it works out OK, it can be used to raise funds for breast cancer at the Waihi Garden Ramble in January and I've just tied a cherry red warp on the dobby loom for more blankets.  No rest for the wicked.