Threads of Compassion is Coming to Boulder!

I'm really excited about this... I have been in touch with Moving to End Sexual Assault (MESA) in Boulder about possibly starting a Threads of Compassion chapter out here in my area. The staff member with whom I've been corresponding brought the idea to the rest of the staff there and they are totally on board with it! I think this is go great - I've been wanting to find a way to use my knitting and crochet skills to help others.

So cross your fingers and wish me and the folks at MESA luck. They will be spreading the word through their staff and connections and I will be doing the same with those around me. I'm really hoping we can make a difference and help those who come forward for support feel they are not alone and that our efforts will help give them comfort and strength in the hard times.

Corset

I've put Giselle on hold while I'm working on a corset top pattern from Annie Modesitt. I wanted to have something nice to wear for Easter and this is proving to work up faster - it's also so very pretty and I think it'll be perfect for spring:


The pattern calls for silk yarn but I've opted for a more budget-friendly Sugar n' Cream cotton yarn in Summer Twists for the main color, and then Aunt Lydia's cotton and acrylic yarn in Linen for the secondary color.

It's further along now than when I took this picture. I've added the second color at the bottom with just a few rows left before I do the finishing and the sleeves. I'm also thinking about adding some beadwork to accent parts of the garment and I found some buttons made from shell at Wal-Mart that I think will look very nice. I'll update with more pictures when the project is done.

Valentine's Shawl

I made my daughter a hairpin lace shawl based on a free pattern from Berroco's for Valentine's Day - I used Yarn Bee's Truffles Ladder yarn to do this one: She really likes it and recognized the hairpin technique when she saw it from the scarf I gave her over Christmas. I asked if she'd like me to teach her how and she said yes, so I will do that when I go to visit her in a few weeks :-)

I also made myself Stitch Diva's convertible wrap using Lion Brand's Incredible yarn:

I love how it turned out, but I think I may have messed up where I'm supposed to put the buttons. I'm probably going to have to move one of them to another corner and then see if I can get it to do all the neat things you see it do on the pattern.

I'm also working on a pattern I bought from Stitch Diva called Giselle. It's a blouse normally knit using silk yarn but I'm using some yarn I've had in storage for forever to make it that's wool, cotton and linen, and I just ordered a skein of Tilli Tomas' Plain and Simple in Forest to make the twisted cord trim and belt when it's done:

I know it doesn't look like much because the circular needle is warping it to make it look like a shoe, but it is beginning to take shape and look nice.

Finally, I had promised my 5-1/2 year old nephew I would make him something, so I knit him a hat and a pair of mittens based on patterns from Bev's Country Cottage:


I will be giving these to him for his birthday next month. I made them using Red Heart's Super Saver yarn in Banana Berry and I love how the different shades of yellow, blue and green striped themselves.

Hairpin Poncho, Fingerless Gloves, Kool-Aid Wool and Harvested Cotton

Yep, I'm back again already... I finished the hairpin lace poncho for my friend's daughter, who is turning 2 this month:

I'm still amazed at how fast hairpin lace works up. Just one strip would come together within an hour or less... I made 4-2 1/2" strips, and 4-3" strips using Yarn Bee's Paradox in Pansy and a size H crochet hook. Each strip consists of 176 loops, making them 22" in length. I used some guidelines a fellow member of my Yahoo! hairpin lace group posted for making ponchos, choosing one that would fit a child size 2-4.

I then made two panels consisting of two 3" strips in the middle, and a 2 1/2" strip on the outer edges, using a single crochet to join the loops, which made the panels 11" wide. I then used some Patons Cha Cha in Vegas that I had leftover from my daughter's hairpin scarf to edge the panels and join them to each other.

I also forgot to show off my fingerless gloves that I knit from yarn I spun out of some really fun colored wool I picked up at Shuttles, Spindles and Skeins - I love the way the yarn just sort of naturally made its own stripes:

I got the pattern from the Knit & Plenty blog. I'm also making a pair for my husband:
I'm using the plain Corriedale I spun a while back for his. I decided to try dyeing the first glove with some coffee, and I really like how it turned out, as does hubby. It also smelled interesting for a while, like a sheep that had too much espresso :-D The smell has calmed down some since.

I tried my hand at dyeing again when I picked up some plain Blue-faced Leicester from Shuttles, Spindles and Skeins over Christmas. I decided to use Kool-Aid, which I've heard is supposed to be really good. Here are my results: The blue-green is from some sort of blue raspberry, the bright red is cherry, the darker red is black cherry, and the pale pink is pink lemonade. I've already started spinning it a little and it's turning out nice... I also like how soft the Blue-faced Leicester feels.

My daughter is continuing to enjoy handspinning. I sent her a pound of Columbia/Dorset blend from Paradise Fibers as an early Christmas gift and then emailed her grandmother several links on dyeing fibers with natural ingredients in case she wanted to give that a try. Sure enough she did - she used food dye to make every color of the rainbow. Awesome! I'm hoping I'll get to see what she's done when I visit her this spring... I'm really excited that she's continued to show so much interest in spinning and crochet.

Finally... last spring and summer I decided that even though I don't live in the cotton belt, I'd try planting some Pima seeds and see where that would go. I was pleasantly surprised with a small field of cotton plants, even in my lousy soil:


I was also surprised to find out just how beautiful cotton blossoms are. The pink and yellow colors are delicate and yet stunning, it's almost like a rose:

Sadly, the frosts came and killed off my plants before the bolls could really mature - I think if they'd had another 2-4 weeks I could have had better success. But I was still able to gather a few and get some fibers out of them - the seeds from them are no good but I can still spin what I got:

I'm thinking if I try again this year, I'll get the actual seed package from Cotton's Journey rather than just plucking them from a bag of bolls like I did last time. That way I'd have many more seeds and would increase my chances for more plants. I would also want to find some way to create a makeshift greenhouse sometime in March or April that could protect the soil and the plants from frost until things start warming up mid-May, and/or plant them indoors a couple weeks early and then transplant them outside. I'll have to do some more homework on this to find ways to optimize my chances for a better crop.

Of course anyone who has any suggestions is also welcome to comment. I'd love to hear if any of you could help this Colorado gal out with her cotton.

Hooray - Pictures!

A belated Happy Holidays :-)

As long-overdue promised, I finally was able to put some pictures together of some things I've done recently. First, I wanted to show some of the handiwork I did with the Little Meggie kick spindle from Heavenly Handspinning: I used some pastel wool roving from Sullivan's here to make this yarn. I eventually knit it into a nice little hat: It's a bit on the big side but it works for the days I have my hair bunched up in a bun, or more often, when I've got an inflated ego. Since it's wool and I double-stranded the yarn, it's also great for the cold snaps we get where I am occasionally between late December and mid-February when it can drop down to the single digits and below zero.

Also as I mentioned a while back I've been learning hairpin lace. I started out by making my own loom out of plastic knitting needles and a pair of foamie letter I's: Eventually as I became more comfortable with the technique, I splurged and got a handmade wooden hairpin loom they sell on Stitch Diva as a birthday gift to myself - here you can see me making another strip for a poncho I'm making for my friend's daughter who got the little sweater and hat I made for her birthday last year: I'll post a couple pictures here when I'm done with it.

I've already managed to make a few other projects with hairpin lace, the first being a couple of scarves: The one on the left was a Christmas present to my daughter, made with Patons Cha Cha in Vegas. The one on the right I made for a 13 year old girl that I picked from our giving tree at my church, again made with the Vegas Cha Cha and Patons Pooch in Spring Blush.

I decided to be more daring with my next project and made a shrug: Being as I'm still learning this technique the shrug is a little tight but it'll be good for the warmer spring days when I wear shorter sleeves under it. For what it's worth it did keep me on the warm side when I wore it over a turtleneck Christmas Eve. I made it using Yarn Bee Mosaic Twist in Flashy.

I also made myself another hat with the hairpin lace: I based the hat on this pattern, but it didn't turn out the way it was supposed to as you can see. So I improvised and added the braided tassels with leftover yarn to make it funky and eccentric instead. This is also in Yarn Bee Mosaic Twist and Paradox in Pansy.

I've been learning cross-stitch and punch needle embroidery too. I gave my mother-in-law, sister-in-law and aunt-in-law punch needle projects that I unfortunately didn't get to photograph before I wrapped them up. But, I was able to get a picture of my first cross-stitch effort, an ornament kit that I picked up from the thrift store: I also made a bookmark for my daughter that's personalized with her name - here's a close-up: Finally, I knit another hat for my son and crocheted him a pair of mittens using patterns from Bev's Country Cottage site - the yarn is Red Heart Super Saver:
So there you go, there's some of what I've been up to lately. It's a lot but I also know I'd promised pictures and I haven't uploaded any in months so you might say I'm making up for lost time.

About the Mother Marion Spindle...

A couple of people have written me asking about my Mother Marion kick spindle, where they can get one and how I like it, so I thought I'd write a quick blurb... I do first want to clarify that the videos you're seeing on my blog are NOT mine, but rather the seller of these spindles. I've simply referred them on my site so people can see what they look like and how to use them.

That said, I LOVE it. I have the Little Meggie model, which has the scalloped wheel. It has a nice balance and weight and spins very smooth and freely.

It's also just plain gorgeous. I don't recall what the wood is but I recently used some beeswax wood preserver to clean it up and the wood absolutely glowed. Being a family member of various men who did woodwork and took pride in it, I definitely appreciate the fine craftsmanship.

I am able to spin yarn with it a lot faster than a drop spindle, which I still use from time to time as it's easier to take with me when I travel. But the kick spindle takes precedence when I'm home... I suspect the only thing that will tear me away from using it is if/when I make or buy a spinning wheel and learn to use that.

Oh, another advantage to the kick spindle is that it's great if you live in a small home with little space like I do. My husband and I are constantly playing Tetris with our stuff to try and make more room, but with my little kick spindle I never have a problem finding a place to either sit and work with it or put it away when I'm done.

The seller also said that smaller kids love to sit on the floor and spin the whorl to "help" spin and she's right - my son will come over, say "Push?" and then start twirling it. He even knows after watching me what direction it should go so he won't end up unwinding my work :-)

Now, where to get one... the person who sells these normally does so on eBay, but if you contact her and ask real nice she would probably be more than happy to sell you one direct. If she contacts me and gives me permission I'll post information on how to get a hold of her directly, but for now I'm going to respect her privacy and just direct anyone who asks to eBay.

A Badly Needed Update

I just realized it's been over three months since I updated my site. My apologies and I promise, promise promise I'll upload some photos of my work soon. We've been back and forth with hard drives and also it's been a bit nutty with my job and family lately.

In the meantime just a quick update on what I've done when I've had that rare and precious spare time. Mostly I've been learning some new things - punch needle embroidery, cross-stitch, and hairpin lace. I've wanted to learn the latter two for quite some time and now I'm finally doing it! As always they ended up just looking a lot harder to do than they actually were when I sat down and gave it a try.

The end result is that all the ladies in my family (and a couple of the gents, if I have time) will get something handmade for Christmas. My daughter, mother-in-law, sister-in-law, and husband's aunt are all getting a punch needle project. I also did a cross-stitch brass bookmark mongrammed with my daughter's name that turned out wonderful, and I did a fun and funky scarf with hairpin lace and bright colored fuzzy yarn that I'll send her in her Christmas care package.

By the way if anyone who wants to try out hairpin lace is having a hard time finding a loom like I did (NONE of the Michaels, JoAnn or Hobby Lobby stores near me carry them in-store, online only), you can DIY your own. The Little Projects blog shows how to make one from wooden skewers and glue sticks, while 10,000 Great Ideas has instructions for doing one from a coat hanger.

I did the coat hanger one and while it works well I still wanted something adjustable. So I went to a Michaels, found myself a pair of plastic knitting needles, two large foam letter I's, and went to work. I poked "starter holes" at 1", 2", 3", and 4" spaces starting from the center out in each of the foam I's. I then pushed the knitting needles all the way through one, then I used the other to cover up the needle points. I find that the foam grips the needles really nicely and doesn't fall off.

I'm still planning to get myself a real hairpin loom come next payday *blush*. But, I sure didn't do too bad with the one I made, and at $4 total for the parts it's a bargain compared to getting something similar online that would have cost twice as much between the actual loom and shipping costs.