Silk Wrist Warmers, Bottle Swap

Thanks again to my SMAT pal who sent me some of the most wonderful hand spun silk yarn I have ever felt! They just screamed to be made into wrist warmers...something I had never before considered making. They is soft and warm, like socks for the hands! I made these with the help of wrist warmer generator. I know! A generator for these? YES! Found here.

I sent off my bottle to my bottle swap person. This was definitely interesting to stuff and plop into a mailbox!! I included some coffee sample packs because her profile said she likes coffee, some of my own roving (blended on those wonderful combs!), two skeins of merino sock yarn, and a Lilac candle tin because she is a lilac lover like I am! I could never have enough sweet smellin lilac candles! Speaking of the combs, someone left a comment on one of my instructional videos that they were not working for them. Uhhh, okay. Not that that tells me much more than the person didn't listen very well to the videos, but how do hand combs "not work"?? Sounds like operator error to me! If you are having a problem, and you are reading this...leave me a bit more detail than that because although I do consider myself a pagan, I cannot read your mind. How are they not working for you? What are you doing/not doing?

As for the new move...I think I may just stay on blogger as wordpad takes sooooooooooooo long to load! Cripes. I am not paying for a slow loading server!! Blogger is faster, easier, simpler....and FREE!

Until next time...

Square Needles-hand made! Silk painting, and self defense training

Well Ihave been busy yet again! I've finished a a pair of size 13 square knitting needles made of oak dowel. Total cost of this pair was $1.35!! I plan to cast-on a project that has been waiting for these to be compelted this weekend. The end-caps are poly clay-turquoise, white, gold, a touch of purple and black that had been shreded and then smooshed back together to get the mosaic look. I cut thin slices off the resulting cane, pinched them out to get them as thin as possible to minimize the extra weight that it would add, and added them to the scrap clay used to mold the ends. Pretty! I love turquoise.

Then I am trying some hand-paining on silk hankies. I want to crochet a Pixi Purse out of the unspun roving of the silk for a friend who let trim her Mulberry trees so I could feed my silkworms last summer.

Last but not least...I have been learning self defense training with the help of this library DVD: Chuck Norris Private Lessons of self defense. It is fun to learn and is great exercise. Finally! Exercise I actually enjoy! It looks really dorky, but Chuck is super serious and seeminly compassionate on the videos.

Until next time...

How to: Spinning Silk Hankies-A video

Will be available as soon as youtube processes the file.

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...

Secrets of Silk

So I found this article on silk (click heading above to be taken to that page).

Here is the first couple of paragraphs...there is something I want to point out near the end of this segment.

"More than 4500 years ago, a Chinese empress discovered how to unravel silk cocoons when one dropped into her cup of tea. Until this time, fibre for cloth came from plants (cotton, linen, hemp, ramie) or animals (sheep, goats, camel and yak). No one knew of such a fine and shiny fibre as silk, and no one would have believed it came from the secretions of an insect.

As the Chinese and other nations began to travel around the world, they each sent ambassadors bearing gifts to other countries. Silk was the most treasured gift from China, and her intelligent emperors soon realised they had a very important trade commodity. To meet the great demand for silk, the emperors ordered their citizens to pay a portion of their taxes in silk cloth. And to help insure that they would remain an important trading power, the government imposed a law that anyone who revealed the secret of silk production would be put to death.

The mystery of how silk was produced was not revealed to the western world for over 3000 years. One tale is told of two Christian monks who were sent to China to discover the age-old secret of silk production. They returned to Constantinople two years later with silkworm eggs and mulberry tree seeds hidden in hollowed out canes. From here, silk production spread throughout Europe. "

Lemme get this straight. Two CHRISTIAN monks....STOLE silkworm eggs and mulberry seeds. Wow, way to practice what you teach!! Guess it started out on the wrong foot, aye? *smacks forhead*

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...

Lucious Yarn spinning Holiday Weekend!

OHHHHh yeah! Look at that...oh Gods...how yummy! I got about 7 ounces of this lusciously sparkling yarn from my Shetland singles. Three of those ounces is going to a curtain someone along with some extra goodies. *evil!!!* LMAO

Today I am going to dye the other 3 ounces I got from it, and knit a pouch from it-I think. I want to do three complimentary colors...something with turquoise. I was thinking turquoise, black, and violet. That sounds pretty! Using low-immersion.

Until next time...

OOO new blends!

OOOO look at that blend! Doesn't it just sparkle! It is silk and Shetland plied together. Two shetland singles, and stretched, unspun silk hankies. OOOOOoooo pretty! I love adding silk to plies like this. It adds a sparkle that no other fiber will add. Click photo for a larger view.

Now...do I dye it...or let the person it is going to dye it? She likes to play in dyes too...so I figured that she could dye it in whatever color she so desires. I think I may add some jaquard dyes as an extra giftie. But the local art mart that I buy from is up on State Street...and there is no way in hell that I am going up there this weekend! NONE! LMFAO!

Until next time...