Try a Little Softness

Hiya from a.,

Several weeks back I went to the Woodstock fleece festival and was able to purchase some seriously lovely fibre.  The most exciting was a merino with silk and cashmere.  This roving was just a delight to spin and I can't recommend it enough.  Here is a link to the etsy store for those interested sericin silkworks . There wasn't a single slub in the roving the colours ran true and it was just so darn soft.  When I plyed it, it also was one of the most balanced yarns I had made and thus didn't require as much prep and washing as some other high energy things I've spun. 
Of course, me being me, I made a scarf/shawlette out of it:

It is warm and soft and I like the solid body with the lace edge.  Here is a closer look:

The colours are really dark and rich and blend together well.  The body is classic seed or granite stitch which I find always gives a nice texture.

Just to give a heads up our posting might be less for the next couple weeks as most of what we are working on are Christmas gifts and we can't post those until after they have been given to people.

See you space cowboy....

So Blocking Does Work

Hiya from a.,

So generally in my crochet I've avoided blocking whenever I could.  This was for a few reasons - main among them was that we didn't really have the space for me to lay out stuff for blocking.  I didn't have anything to block on and no way to keep a certain feline away from it.  But now I have easy access to a washing room, those foam squares from the dollar store and a door to keep the b. out (you'll see why that is integral in a sec). 
This was also a project that required serious blocking.  I decided to go blind (well blinder) and and work with lace weight yarn.  We are talking seriously skinny - Noro lace weight.  At times it was so thin, it was like thread.  It was a triangle shawl from the new Interweave Accessories issue.  Often when something calls for lace I'll step it up to fingering to make my life easier - but I just fell in love with the blues in this Noro that I had to try.  I will say that this was one of the harder projects I've done, as the yarn was so delicate and the hook small.  We're talking watching all of the extended editions of the Lord of the Rings only completed about 1/2 of it.
Anyways, here is a photo of the shawl pre-blocking:

Man, you can always count that four legged fella to walk through the frame.  I then soaked the whole thing and then rolled the shawl in a towel and pinned it out.
Here are the results:

I have to admit, that I knew blocking would open up the lace work, but I didn't expect it to do so much.  You can now really see the striping that the Noro does and the different stitches used.  I do believe that this experience has taught me that blocking is a good thing for certain projects, and definitely worth the effort.

See you space cowboy....

My Library

Hiya from a.,

I don't have anything finished to show you this week (well I do, but it is taking forever to dry, so you'll get to see it later), so I thought I would show you something else instead.  I took photos of my personal crafting library.  This is my collection of sewing, crochet, and cross-stitch books.  It wasn't until I had laid them out on the bed that I realized that I actually have a decent collection.

As you see it is a solid collection - nothing compared to our comic book collection (but hey what can compare to that?) - but it gives me a lot of ideas and techniques to play with.  Note that this doesn't include my magazines, just the books.  I've acquired these in a bunch of different ways: gifts, people streamlining their own library, online, used stores, with the help of coupons, etc.
Here are some closer photos that show the books better and some notes about the books:

Okay so this photo is here because a certain feline has to poke his nose into stuff and insists that the blog must regularly include his adorable form.  He is though standing on a great book.  It doesn't have a huge amount of technical/instructional information but Sweater Surgery is a great idea book for what to do with sweaters that have become to worn out to donate and you don't want to throw them out because you love the colour or texture.  The book gives you idea on how to turn them into bags, scarves, mittens, and is just really fun to flip through.  The other two I want to highlight in this section are Sew What Skirts and Zombie Cross Stitch.  The skirt book is just one that I constantly go back to as it is all about using your own measurements to make the pattern.  They are simple construction with detailed instructions and ideas and I love this book.  And who wouldn't enjoy being able to cross stitch zombies?

In this photo there are some repeats from the one above but here I want you to focus on the bottom and the right.  I picked up the book Applique Your Way  really cheap at a used store in Minneapolis, mainly because it was really cheap, but I find it very useful.  Anytime I've done an embellishment on a bag to date have been done based on the techniques outline in this book.  It is also just a cheery and pretty book to flip through.  Like the skirt book Sew What Bags is a book I couldn't live without (thanks n for the great gift of it).  Again it is all about simple detailed construction that turns out amazing.  The other great one here is Modern Basics as it is a quilting book that is all about straight lines and mostly rectangles and squares.  This is great for me who is just learning the basics of quilting.

Here you can see more of my crochet books (and looking at these photos I realize that although I crochet more, my sewing books far out number the crochet ones).   Highlights are Creepy Cute Crochet it was one of my earliest books and still always makes me happy to flip through (I also have a book called Crobots from l. but it isn't pictured and is also completely adorable).  Crochet Fabric is a great reference tool for playing with gauge and learning what different yarns can do.  I'm not a fan of the patterns it has, but as an overall resource it is great.  One of my favourites is more to the top and is Blueprint Crochet.  It has great patterns and I love that everything is fully charted out and has complete written instructions.  One Yard Wonders is a handy book to have as sometimes you buy a crazy expensive fabric in small quantity and this book will help you figure out what to do with it. 

At the top there Manga Cross Stitch is actually where I have found the best charted alphabets for stitching and then there is World of Geekcraft.  I want to be clear it is not all great stuff - a few of the projects are incredibly lame (felt Wii remote holsters) but overall the book is seriously awesome.  Any book that shows you have to make jewelry from 12-20 sided dice and how to build Star Wars terrariums has to be a winner.
I would say overall I don't have any real lemons in my library.  There are ones that collect more dust than others, but I can't say I regret having any of these.
I know that this was a long post, but I think that it gives you a better idea of where my work is coming from and what it is being informed by.

see you space cowboy....

A Practical and A Pretty

Hiya from a.,

Today I have two items for you to enjoy.  This first is a practical thing, but practical doesn't have to mean boring and not cute.  We exist right  now in a small space and will continue to do so for a few more months.  This means that if you are on the computer, the computer chair is in a main walk through hallway area that can be a little dark.  It is not the most comfortable situation for if you want to watch Doctor Who episodes you've downloaded (legally at that, because we are giant rule following nerds).  That means bringing the laptop over to the bed so that you can stretch out and get cozy.  The problem with this is that the laptop really sinks into the blankets, gets warm and if you move it bounces around.  The solution - a laptop board:

One of the advantages to where we currently live is the amount of scrap wood and tools that are easily at hand.  I went to the wood pile found a piece that would work and just had to cut it down a bit.  I then cut a couple pieces of this adorable fabric that e. from the flbs had got for me and used spray glue to stick it on.  I then went around with tacky glue and trimmed the edges with green ribbon.  Here is a closer look at the fabric:

It isn't an exciting project, but it was a useful one and you might as well make it adorable while you are at it.
The second project I have to show you is a necklace that I crocheted:

I am pleased with how this turned out.  It is just a bunch of chain crocheted rows with a different amount of stitches and a different beading pattern.  To add strength and stability on either side it is just plain single crochet ends:

I then used a bead and a loop for the back closure of the piece.  It was my first time playing with crochet thread and I like the results.  It is definitely small tight work and I wouldn't want all of my work to be with the crochet thread, but I will experiment with it more.

see you space cowboy...

Hat

Hiya from a.,

I just have a quick little thing to show you today.  I made a winter hat.  This is nothing new or super exciting, but it is done with a technique I hadn't tried before and I am pleased with the results.  The hat was done in all vertical slip stitch rows.  This ended up creating a denser fabric that more closely resembles a knit item.  It was fun to try something a little bit different.  Here are the end results:

Yes I know that it is a rather bright pink - but are you really that surprised by the colour?  This is all slip stitch in the back loop which while it is a dense fabric it is also a very stretchy fabric:

That is my foot holding down the one side while I pulled the other.  When you look at the two photos you can see just how much give the fabric ended up with.

Finally here is a picture of it on:

I didn't intend to frame the photo like this but it amuses me to no end that in the background beside the super pink hat you can see the day of the dead hello kitty that r painted for me for my birthday.

see you space cowboy....

Strips and Stripes

Hiya from a.,
I have two things to share with you today.  The first isn't  finished project yet, but I like the looks of it already and thought that I would share.  If you've been reading the blog for awhile you know that I started to experiment with quilting.  You also know that I (as always) just dove in and started a little too big.  I since have scaled back, done more reading and thought pieces through.  I also discovered that one of the evil big box store corporations sells really cheap fabric.  It is cheap in terms of price and quality (a pack that was 4 fat quarters was under 6 bucks and a jelly roll is under 15).  We don't have joanns up here where you can get those types of prices on sale.  We have fabricland and I can get cheap up, but not in packs, only individual fabrics.  What this cheap fabric allows is for me to experiment and learn a technique of pattern, without breaking into my good stash.  I was able to cut up this fabric and make my first log cabin square:

Since I had four colours/patterns to work with each new row I shifted the colour over so that each side has a strip of each pattern.  In the end I'll probably back this and just have it as a little successful sampler.  I am just pleased that when I scale back and take my time, this quilting thing might actually work for me (also at this point a HUGE shout out to my friend Amy who for my birthday a couple years ago gave me a quilting rule that just makes life so much easier, I couldn't be doing this without that ruler.  And the litter fairy thread scissors she gave me as well - lifesavers both).
So a log cabin block is a pretty traditional thing to show you our readers.  This second item I have is just as traditional.  I made yet another blanket, but this time it is a big one.  You know from other blankets I've shown you that I like bold colours and this is no different.  What I did do though is a zig-zag or chevron stripe - one of the most common things for crocheted blankets.  For me though a lot of these patterns use small stripes and lots of colours which I find doesn't suit my tastes and this is what I end up with instead:

The colours stick to a pattern but as I worked to the one side I let the width get bigger, because I figured why not - I feel that it adds some fun (r. calls the blanket the wave length).  It's the biggest blanket I've made to date, and I like the drama of it.  Plus the damp and cold are starting to seep in and lots of cozy blankets is a nice thing to have.

see you space cowboy....

Of Course I Made Another Scarf

Hiya from a,
It is difficult to top the awesome that was the last r post and I'm not even going to try.  Instead I just have a scarf to show you.  I bought a yarn at the Patons outlet for dirt cheap and it was a striping sock yarn.  The problem was that with crochet I just couldn't get the stripes to go how I would like.  Thus I decided to use the yarn just as yarn and not worry about striping.  On ravelry the designer Quince Tart wrote a pattern called the Sweet Eleanor Scarf.  This is a free pattern and she did an amazing job and everyone who crochets should make this scarf - it comes out beautifully.  Here is the finished project:

I actually love how swimmy and dreamy the colours worked out in the pattern.  I did actually block the scarf a bit (which with the natural curve took a little work) but I just wanted to smooth out the ripples in the fabric a little - just to show off the open work better.  I like it.
See you space cowboy...

VIDEO: Miss Zooey

Hi folks, please watch our first ever video on the blog and see my beautiful new uke, Miss Zooey!

Oooh Purple

Hiya from a,

Today we are in purple town - population us.  I have two things to show you today.  The first is some yarn that I spun.  This was a bit of an experiment, but I am pleased with the results.  It is two different yarns that I twisted together.  It has a dark purple corriedale strand, and the other is an alpaca/wool blend that I dyed blue with some dots of violet.  I spun it with a fairly tight twist and here are the results:

I have to say that it is nice to be in a location right now where I can go take photos for the blog out in natural light.  In the twist there are spots where the purple is more dominant, and others where the blue is the focus, but for twisting together fibres from different animals, it actually came out really well (I think).
The second thing I have to show you is a beret/cap.  It is a hat with a slash because the pattern called in a beret but it fits more like a normal hat - though I can where it a little slouchy. 
Here is the side view:

It is made with a purple stripe sock yarn from the good old Patons outlet.  Looks like a normal boring hat from the side, but the top/back is what makes this hat really stand out:

How pretty is that??? It is this gorgeous spiral/flower shape, and the striping in the yarn just works so well with it.  I was able to do this hat in under 24 hours as well, so pretty and quick - this is a big check in the awesome column.

See you space cowboy....

What's In the Box???? (yarn, but you could have guessed that)

Hiya from a.,

In the great move, my yarn box took quite a beating.  It took even more of a beating when r. started using it as his end table and spilled coffee on it.  This is what it was looking like:

You can see the stains on the top.  There are also some dings into the wood, but those don't bother me as much as they are a part of an object that is used everyday, but the dirt on the yellow was really starting to bother me.  So I decided to paint it.
The first step was to sand it down a bit, just to strip it and rough it up (and yes I know that talking about painting can sound a little dirty):

Let me tell you that it is so much easier working on a project where you have the space and tools you need at your disposal.  One of the benefits of the move is a garage to work in and a collection of work tools and supplies that will cause you to drool a little bit. 
At first I thought I would go for another light/pastel shade, but then when I got to the Home Depot I saw the colours labelled 'saturated' and I was sunk. 
Here is me working on the project:

The nice thing with this photo is that you cannot see that I am wearing two different socks.  You have to love garages that can't actually hold cars because they've been turned into a work space.

Here is the finished result.  As always with our camera the paint is a shade or two darker than it looks in the photo.  Right now I am in love with the colour so much that I am not sure that I'll add any other details.  I might eventually want to change out the hardware, to white for a better contrast but that would be about it.  After this photo was taken, the box had to be taken back into the garage as it has been damp for the last for days and the paint is still a little bit tacky.  By the end of the weekend it should be back in place and stuffed with yarn once more.

see you space cowboy...

A Couple of Infinities

Hiya from a.,

Today I have a couple of infinity scarves/cowls to show you.  One is a pattern I've done before (the calm cowl) but in the magic awesome birthday box I got from the FLBs there was a couple balls of this gorgeous mini mochi that I knew would look killer in this pattern:

So this is the cowl, the yarn came out in all these nice dark blue/purple/green stripes and is all soft and cozy.  Here is a better look at the striping:

It was a simple granite/seed stitch but I didn't want to take anything away from the yarn itself.  I love how that one bright blue just pops out.  This scarf is a shorter infinity and I can't really wrap it around my neck, but I am fine with that because I also made this:

This is a really nice mottled yarn that was an alpaca wool blend.  Again the colouring in the yarn was such that I didn't want to do anything too wild with it.  What I did was just grab a large hook (that yarn is an aran weight) and working in the back loop only just did half double crochet stitches.  It gave it a bit of texture and just let the yarn shine through.  Here is the scarf stretched out:

I'm pleased with how both turned out.  What's nice is that where we've moved to is more mild than where we were.  This means that I'll be able to wear all the scarves I make more easily as I don't have to wear a huge charlie brown kind of winter coat as much (just a normal light winter coat).
see you space cowboy... (and yup I love cowboy bebop enough that this is now how I'll be signing off).

I dyed that day (Part I should really keep track of what number I'm up to)

Hiya from a.,

My love affair with Sarah Jane continues on.  I had dyed 1/2lb of BFL earlier this week and yesterday I watched seven hours of Doctor Who (the latest season in one go - it was an intense day).  This watching made me want to play with Sarah Jane all day - though I watched Cowboy Bebop while spinning as I couldn't really take anymore Who this weekend.  The two photos I'm going to show you are the fibre and then the results.  This is about 1/2 the fibre and about 1/2 the finished product.  The colours came out such that a couple of the FLBs would probably kill for it.  Anyways here is the fibre:

On its own the fibre is incredibly bright with lemon yellow, orange, pink and shades of all those mixed in.  The result is a two ply that is  somewhere between fingering and sport weight.  Also when spun and put together the colours really softened and melded (it is still really bright, just not searing):

This is just under half of the fibre and it is just under 200 yards.  I am really pleased with the results and I would imagine that it will end up being something very cheerful.
This might be a week where there will be a few updates as I have a couple projects right on the tail of being finished and r. has a small canvas that he worked up.

And now because I am completely enamored with them, here is a photo of me in my new glasses:

See you space cowboy...

Circles

Hiya from a.,

So I finished another small/lap blanket.  Where we are living these days I can get a solid selection (at a decent price) of James Brett Marble - both the dk and chunky weight.  I figured that this yarn would work great for a blanket with all the shifting colours that it has.  I went for a high contrast, bright, cheerful look, with just expanding circles:

It's main resting place is the back of our new recliner, but here it is all stretched out:

You can really see the different shades in the orange, the blue is the subtler of the two.  As ever when you work a one piece blanket that grows each round it starts so quick and the last few rows just kill you.  You start with 8 stitches in the round and end with over 450 around (I didn't really count, it would have made me too sad).
Here you can see the blanket serving one of its practical purposes.  We have it on the back of the chair just in case in the recline position the chair has moved it protects the chair from the wall:

Finally here is the image that we woke up to this morning:

Our overlord nicely nested amidst various blankets I've made.  This cat suffers so.
Take care.

Jelly Baby?

From r.,

This is my latest painterly creation. It depicts, of course, the TARDIS (Time and Relative Dimensions in Space), the space/timecraft of the Doctor on Doctor Who. It is acrylic paint on prepared artboard (specifically Mona Lisa brand by Speedball). This is my first time working with artboard (thank you clearance prices at Michael's) and it turned into a very happy accident. When I was putting paint on the surface it wasn't spreading well, so I had to keep watering the paint to get it to cover the substrate, then, when I went to apply the next layer of paint I discovered the lower layer was coming up and revealing the white board. This looked really cool. So I stopped painting, flipped my brush and started scraping away the paint (SGRAFFITO!). I like the look, very German woodcut. It really is an all or nothing proposition since you only get one shot at getting it right. This means it takes longer, but totally worth it. The quotation is from Craig Ferguson, a fellow Whovian, who said that this was the central lesson and meaning of Doctor Who. I agree. This idea came to me a few months ago as a possible tattoo idea, since this very principle--and watching Doctor Who--is what got me through the last stretch of finishing a dissertation.

Space

Hiya from a.,
This is just a quick post to show you something new.  We've been settling in pretty well to our new digs, but they needed better organization as it is a small area we exist in right now.  This led to lots of measuring (thanks FLBs for the super cute measuring tape) and hmms, and I wonders, and finally a trip to Ikea.   This is the result:

On top of the unit we have a pretty bag r. bought for me and my portable spinning unit.  Going along the selves from left to right and top to bottom we have a cube for the crochet projects that I am in the middle of; my crochet books with my hooks being in that little coffee tin; fabric that is over 1 yard in cut; my bits and bobs for sewing (scissors, zippers, thread, etc); the two bins hold all scrap or small fabric; then my sewing books; finally my sewing machine.
I still have my cute little sewing table but I don't actually sew in this space, I bring my stuff elsewhere, which means that this organization suits so much better.  The taller units allow for extra floor space, which allows a certain four legged creature more space to run around.  r. has one of these units as well, though his holds our xbox, records, and comic books, but it too helped with the floor space situation.

take care,
a

Hey, it's Sylvia Plath! Can I pee in your Bell Jar?

dear friends, it was recently a's birthday which means I had to get her a gift. Because I am cheap or we're creative or some such, I made a few paintings for her and now I'm showing them to you. The first photo is the three paintings for a grouped together. The big one was her special request :Dia de los Muertos Hello Kitty. The painting is titled "Dead Cat," or at least I think it is as I looked up dead and neko in an online kanji dictionary and tried to copy them (for all I know they could say "Totoro, to-toro" or "Silly white girl playing with samurai swords" because I don't speak Japanese). Pretty straight forward really, acrylic on cardstock after a few rough sketches in my book. The flower is my take on the imperial chrysanthemum which is really hard to draw. It occurred to me this afternoon that I maybe could've tried cherry blossoms or the tokugawa holly hock crest, but a is happy so I am too. I like the mix of kawai and momento mori. The second painting was supposed to be an attempt to figure out if a technique would work for the third painting and practice with flowers or rather roses for something kicking around my head. Instead it actually turned out. The black rose is a relatively new anarchist symbol, but an elegant one, which is why I tried it. Again, pencil on cardstock and paint over the pencil. The new thing I tried was a silver wash over the whole thing. A wash is prepared by simply watering down acrylic paint until it is supertranslucent and, well, watery (at least that's how I do it). The concerns with the technique were a: how evenly would it apply and b: since I'm using mostly paper to paint these days, how much water curl would I get. I was able to make sure it was even by dry brushing after application and limited curl by mounting it to a piece of cardboard (thank you case of coke in the recycling, you died so I could be caffeinated and for DIY). It's one of the things I've done that I think is actually beautiful and not clever. Very happy with it. The third painting was the one I was trying the silver wash out for, but it didn't go quite like I wanted it. It is supposed to be a day of the dead skull representing the title character of one of a and my favourite b movies and MST3K episodes, The Brain that Wouldn't Die. It ended up looking a little robotish, and the basin that reads "Neck Juice" in Spanish ran. It ended up all right but not quite what I had hoped. The final thing is a birthday card I made for my Mom. Hand painted on paper, it is a sprig of lily in the valley, as her birthday is in May. She liked it and I thought it turned out well.

We're Back!

Hiya from a.,

Sorry for how long it took us to get back to posting, but moving and settling in always take longer than you think they will.  I am pleased to say though that we should at this point be back to regular posts, as both of us in the last couple of weeks have been creating a lot of cool stuff.
I have a couple of little bits to show you.  The first is some yarn that I spun.  I went to the fibre store that isn't too far from where we are currently living as I was able to get some cool stuff.  I got some Camel, a Llama/Silk blend, an Alpaca/wool mix, and a funky batt.   The batt is standard Corriedale wool but mixed in were Sari silk threads.  I did a two ply and here are the results:

Now being a two ply of a small batt it isn't a huge amount of yarn, but it should make a nice trim, or funky addition to some other project.
The other thing I have to show you is a bracelet.  It isn't anything elaborate, but it came out shiny and pretty I think:

It has a nice brass/copper/amber look. 
Next post will be r. with some bitching art projects he's done recently.

Take care,
a.

Be Back In July

Hiya from us,
We just wanted to let everyone know that we are taking the next few weeks off posting due to our lives being rather hectic.  We have lots of awesome stuff in the works and we should be back to regular posting by early july.  Until then, enjoy this photo:

take care.

My Continued Adventures with Sarah Jane (I Dyed that Day Part the ??)

Hiya from a.,

For the past couple of weeks I have been learning some very important lessons about using a spinning wheel.  The most important might be that those of us with bad knees, shouldn't spin more than 4 hours in a given day.  I've also been figuring out the settings that I like best. I moved up to the faster setting on the medium whorl, and I like my tension a little bit tight.  I love all the little tweaks that I can make to Sarah Jane in order to best suit the fiber and my capabilities.  Here are some of the most recent results:

This is the orange/rust/wheat coloured roving that I got at Shepherd's Harvest.  It is a merino/tencel blend, which fought me a little as I was spinning, as it is slick and was a little above my wheel pay grade (I should have kept it on the drop spindle, but I just couldn't resist).

Next is a dyeing that I did.  It is a little darker than it looks here in the sun, but it came out neat.  It is different than I expected as I ended up over saturating the colour, but that is the fun of dyeing your own roving, you can end up being surprised.  To date this is also my most even on the wheel.

Finally we have a finished object.  This is hand dyed, hand spun, and then a scarf I crocheted (I was too excited and all this was done in about 4 days).  Check this out:

Oh yes, I made a striping yarn.  Now is was a first attempt so the striping is a little soft, but you can clearly see that there are repeating colour patterns there that are stripes.  How cool is that?

I'm planning to take a couple days off of Sarah Jane to get a bunch of sewing done, but I'm very curious what will happen the next time we play together.
Take care.