Pink Hand spun Hat

Finally I am posting the picture of the hat I made with the art batt I showed you several weeks ago. I spun the yarn in a fairly constant chunky. They used a P crochet hook to make this cute little hat. I love crocheting with the chunky yarn. It goes very fast! Fun, Fun, Fun! Now I need to card up another really crazy batt to make another hat and maybe a scarf with it.

Fishy...Fishy...fishy....

I have been playing around with needlefelting again. In this picture I used a piece of my hand-made felt that I dyed. I needlefelted some yarn onto it. I also bonded some angelina fibers together with the iron and then needlefelted them on to my underwater scene. For fun I like to use metalic threads and the fancy stitches on my sewing machine. The result is a  new piece of art! Some days it is fun just to play and say..."What if?...

Doggie Bootie

I have digressed from my usual projects. Our dog Teddy has a sore on his front paw. It is on the pad...kinda like a brush burn. The vet said there is no infection but he is walking on it like we would in our bare feet. So I needed to get him a doggie bootie. My husband asked "Can't you make one?" Well...I said...probably. So off to the internet I went in search of a pattern. Well....there are lots of patterns, as one would expect from the internet. The first one was sewn and make out of felt. It was fair but having a hard time staying on. It didn't help that our other dog, Ebby, a black lab, kept untying it and trying to pull it off. It was drying on the register one day and she took it and chewed it up. so I made another one...it was too long and I had to modify it. IT works fair.  I decided to crochet him one. It is OK....I need to modify it somewhat. Here are some pictures of him in his COOL boot.....However, he does not think it is cool!

Crazy week

The weather this week has been a bear and driving a real challenge. I started out to Erie on Tuesday but did not make it. I could not see anything so turned around and went home. The next days were awful for driving and that stresses me out a lot! So not much has happened in my goal of finishing projects as I wasexhausted when I got home. I put my feet up in front of the fireplace and "thawed out" for the evening!

 I did get all of the fiber spun that I showed you last time. I am eager to start the hat but have been working on knitting a hat from one of the crazy batts. I am using double pointed needles and 4 of them. I am used to using three but having to work around 4 has been a bit different. I am at the point of shaping the crown so hope to get it done soon! It's taking me a bit longer because as I go, if yarn is too thick, I draft it out if I can. I am able to do that because I have lightly spun the original strand and not plyed it with anything else. This batt had more "crazy" stuff in it....I really love it.

Well off to create!

Weekend scarf done!

Here it is! I think it can be done in a week end but it did take me longer. It went really fast with the larger size needles. It did not come out to 88" long. I thought maybe I spun it too thick but then decided to weigh it. My one pound batt turned out to be just under 130z. However, it is so bulky that I don't think it really needs to be much longer. It has some flexibility and can stretch out a little to make it more narrow. Overall I am please with it and it was a great way to use up a lot of fiber at one time!

NEW PROJECT !!!

Now I am onto another project. I was at home and didn't feel like going over to the studio to get some fiber. I was in the mood to spin some more. So I looked around my sewing room. Surely I must have some fiber somewhere in here that I can use! Well, of course I found some batts I had ordered from a gal in Oregon. She makes art batts and calls herself Hanks in the Hood....she lives near Mt. Hood.Check out her etsy store http://www.etsy.com/shop/hanksinthehood . I had 4-3oz batts just waiting to be spun up. I am spinning another single bulky as I want to make another hat. This time with a brim.

Week-end project...I think!

I have my yarn all spun for my one pound scarf. It is a relatively loosely spun single that I carried along a strand of gold glitter. Some parts got really too thick but I am going to go with it anyway. I feel that the scarf will not be as long as pattern indicates but that is OK. I am not using the right size needles either! I will be using size 17 needle. The pattern also said to cast on 10 stitches but that looks to be too narrow with the size 17 needles. So I am going to start over and cast on 12. Then you K1, P1, K1 across every row until the end. So will start that tonight and work on it while watching TV with my hubby. I am sure this is a weekend project.

For those wondering....I have not abandoned my vest. I am still searching for the right pattern. I had one picked out but on second thought I really did not like it. So will keep searching!

Happy Creating,

Anita

Machine needlefelting

To make needlefelting easier for large pieces I use my embellisher form Babylock. I have one with 12 needles. I can adjust how many needles I want to use at a time. To do the large pieces that I a working on for my vests I use all 12 needles. It is so fast! I am amazed at how quickly I can lay down fiber on a piece of stabilizer. The stabilizer I am using is Vileen. It is washable in either cold or warm water depending on what you are using the fabric for. In the case of my vest pieces I rinsed them with a little bit of dawn dish soap and warm water. The stabilizer came right out and it does not leave a sticky residue. The pieces I did last weekend are now ready for construction.

I had to break my second rule and purchase some outside materials. In all of my stash I did not have any lining fabric for the vest. I could have used some silk, but also I did not have a color I could make work. So I did purchase some lining and fusible interfacing. I will have enough now to complete another garment.

Next step, cut out the pieces and see how it all sews together!

Happy Creating!