Felting success!!!

The before and after pictures. I think the bag needs to go through one more cycle and it will shrink just a bit more. It is not shrinking lengthwise as much as width wise...something I forgot to take consideration of before the sample was toast...literally. Using size 13 needles I knitted a base of 24 stitches and 24 rows wide, then picked up stitches along the other three edges and knitted 36 rows deep. I LOVE the color graduation which I accomplished by blending the different dyed lots of Lincoln wool. I did the icord bind off which was a mind boggling to learn but once I got it down it went really quickly. Then I knitted the flap. I originally calculated 18 rows on 24 stitches...but 18 seemed a bit short to me so I went till I ran out of that batch of spun yarn which turned into 25 rows. Then I picked up stitches along that edge and icord BO.


Makes a nice hippie hat!!

The results are a bag that is 8 inches wide (2 inches smaller than I was shooting for) 6 inches wide (which was what I wanted) and about 12 inches deep. The flap did not felt completely for some odd reason after two complete wash cycles (I have a pay-per-use washer in the apartment building I live in). I think I will try to felt that part by hand or add some fiber to it and needle felt it in. Right now it is drying with a wrapped photo box inside of it to help keep the shape. Now I think I will have to add a draw string through the sides at the top of the opening because it wants to bulge outward when there is nothing in it and the flap is closed. I am very proud of this! Then I plan on adding button close straps to the back of the bag so that it can be buttoned on and off the handle bars. Then I need to knit a strap, get some brass D rings, and a pair of clips for the strap so I can take remove it when I want too. I still need to knit the two pockets, but I need to clean and dye up some more wool. I used every last bit that I dyed before. What a great use for such a course wool!

The rest of the bag is pretty well felted and I LOVE the way the Lincoln turned into a bunch of loopy-loops all over the bag!!

Until next time...

Cold, Sunny, Dyeing Day

It's a great day to Dye. :P

I dyed both of these inthe same pot at the same time....how odd the color differences!! Silk likes to SUCK up the fushia dye. The alpaca (in the strainer) has red-violet tips and blue everything else. I was shooting for voilet-red (because I seem to be attracted to that color for some odd reason recently) but I got more of a wine color which is just as nice. I used brilliant blue, fucshia, and fire engine red in equal anounts until the paper towel I was using to test the color had about the tone I wanted. I am gettin low on blue dye so I am gonna have to hit the local art supply for some more of that and some salmon and purple.

I am trying another batch this time using lilac purple, fire engine red, blue, and fuchsia. Should be interesting as yet again the silk seems to want to suck up all the red and fuchsia.

Until next time...

Waterproofing....test #1

Humm so I have been trying to look into how to waterproof wool garmets but everytime I tried to search for "waterproofing wool" I came up with a whole lotta links about baby diaper covers...WHAAaaaaaaaaaaa?!

Then I stumbled upon Lenolin that I could buy. But then I started thinking...wouldn't any 'ol natural oil work? SO I am testing mineral oil and coconut oil on my felted swatch to see what happens. First I warmed the peice in the oven and spread the oils over one half of one side of the peice, then placed it back into the oven to facilitate obsorbtion.

I'll let you know how it turns out!

The keyboard took a crap the other day so now I am having to get used to this new one which is quite a bit louder and shaped a little differnently so I keep hitting the wrong keys. ARGH!

And I was trying to search (again) through google for the bird sanctuary that is up north wisconsin. I cannot for the life of me remember the name of the place but Google is not being of much help today. GRrrrrrr...I get EVERYTHING but what I am lookin for! WTF!!! It's one of those kind of days I guess.

Until next time...

Felting experimentation: Lincoln longwool

OOOh this wool creates some thick felt...perfect for a durable all weather bicycle handle bag!
I found a pattern I like at knitty.com . I want to make mine turquoise, royal blue, purple, with a touch of golden yellow. I'm not sure how it will turn out if I navajo ply it. *scratching head*

This was some lincoln that I spun up months and months ago that was navajo plyed and about worsted wieght, knit on size 13 needles. It lost about two inches when felted (which I did by hand and BOY are my hand cleaner than they have ever been!! Squeaky clean!!). This one will get dubbed a dish washing cloth since it is still very large and thick. I plan on using the pattern at knitty, but making the bag more box like than bag. I want a wider bottom and shorter sides. SO I will just add more rows to the bottom and stop when it is two inches higher than I will want. Then when it is felted and dry, I will spritz with mineral oil to make it water proof. I could not think of any other kind of oil that would be suitable to waterproofing felt.

Dinner time!!

Until next time...

Turquoise with Black, Dyeing times Part 2

Well, it came out WONDERFUL! I love how the black is interspersed and randomized all over the yarn! Some pics of the finished yarn, and one of right before the pot started to boil to steam set the black. I love the different shades from black to gray where the black half absorbed around where it initially hit.

And some more pictures of the dyeing flop yarn. Once it dried, I actually love the way it colored! from blue-violet, to red voilet and back! I figured that the silk did not tak eup as much dye because there was not enough vinigar in the water. Apparently, it needs a little more than wool. So now I have two very indvidual hanks of very soft handspun "exotic" yarn! I think I will make a pouch out of one, or both of these either in strips or using a motif.

Until next time...

Making Knitting Needles Part 4-with WIP

Vuela! They are a little longer than I am used to working with, but they do the job nicely!

This is the beginnings of the Crossover Shawl found in Ribbon Styles. I bought most of the yarn through knitpicks.com, and some I found on sale at a local fabric store last summer. I didn't know then what I would make, but it has a purpose now! The camera really does not due the colors justice, and focusing on it was a hurtle! Click photos for larger version. You too, can make your own knitting needles!!

Until next time...

Making Knitting Needles-Part 3

Here are some more pictures, this time, the endcaps! The pictures on the end are from a commercial cane that was on clearance. I bought it a couple of months ago to make into stitch markers...still have yet to get THOSE done. *snort* But stitch markers will go loverly with these endcaps! I glazed them with the Krylon Clear Glaze. It is a "tripple thick" glaze that gives items a nice glassy look. I used a bunch on a Rune Casting Tray a while back and it looks very nice with the glaze.

The glaze is still a little sticky, so a few more hours I will get started on the project that needed the 15's and post pictures after a couple rows.

Until next time...

Creating Knitting needles

You read it right....I have ventured into making knitting needles out of dowels. I bought oak dowels when I could, but one size they only had in soft popular. Oh well.
I'll take you though the steps.

One is to round the end of the dowel. I used a dremel tool, but you can whittle too. I used a course sanding barrel bit.



Once you have the end rounded, sand down a little further from the end (or whittle).





Then concentrate on forming a ruff-draft (so to speak) tip. You don't want to sand it all the way down to "the perfect point" in this stage. You just want a ruff form. You will be sanding it down by hand with sanding paper and this is how the tip will be perfected. When you get to sanding, you want to start with fairly course sandpaper, and then move to fine and then superfine. This gives the wood a nice smooth, professional finished look.





Take your needle gauge with you to the hardware store when you are ready to purchase some dowels. I noticed that the dowels that are just a smidgen too big for one size, will fit that size after sanding. Here are a pair of size 13's which I thought were 15's, but after sanding...turned into 13's!

Here are size 13's, and size 15 needles. Regular cost retail for these: 7.99 a pair for bamboo or wooden, actual cost spend for these two sets: 1.88 (!!!!). Yes, I do have a project ready to try out the 15's as soon as they are finished. I cut the dowels to around 14-15 inches long. I rounded the ends to make smooshing them into some polymer clay easier. I made polymer clay ends, dusted them with micro-pearl Pearl-Ex powder and they are baking as I type. I'll place more photos in another post as five pictures is the max per post.

You will want to seal the wood before gluing on the end caps with either Linseed oil, or Tung oil, or any other wood finishing oil that you prefer. I would not recommend using any stain, or poly-seal. I have tung oil, so that is what I will be using. You want to apply the first layer, let sit for about 20 minutes, wipe off the excess, let dry for a couple of hours and then repeat and let sit overnight. I dunno if I can wait that long!! LOL

Until next time...

OH BOO! Dyeing flop!

It was fun mixing the colors together...I had such high hopes!

This is what I was shooting for...at least in one segmant of the yarn. Note how the silk took up only the lilac dye, while the wool took up the black cherry color what was made by mixing the lilac and a bit of red. Pretty!!!






The dyepot looked promising. I pour turqoise in the middle, violet-blue up one side, and the cherry-red color at the very end.













But this is what I got. The blue-violet over powered everything else...and my skien is mostly a dark colbolt blue with hints of black cherry here and there. *pout* Not what I was hoping for. The silk ply took up less color than the wool, which gives the whole skien a tweed look, which is interesting.

Next time, I am using this technique. I was turquise, blue-violet, and red-violet in three CLEAR sections and have them all blend and meet in the middle.

Oh well...live and learn!

Until next time...

Yay! Knitpicks order came and yarn experiment results

OOOOooooo....pretty!

Now I just need to wait for the Ribbon Styles book I ordered from crafterschoice.com and I can get started on that blue wrap I saw at the LYS.

And here are the results from the core wrapping experiment I did last night. It gives it a poofy look, and a soft feel. I think this would be great with silk!!! I think I will dye me some silk and try that next. Look for it here in the next couple of days!

Until next time...