Progress

I've been making OK progress on the Granny's. I crochet at the coffee shop in the morning and on the bus too. I don't think about my bus ride by distance or time anymore, but by the number of squares completed.

Speaking of coffee, this apparently says, Coffee is the best of all drinks in the world. I found this one a month or so ago. It's such a thrill to still be able to find a treasure like this with a really, really good price!

Happy Spring everyone!

Colour on the Brain

Sometimes I think about colours and colour combinations so much, it almost gets irritating. I read about a quilter the other day, and she said that sometimes while playing with colour combinations, she may lay out 30 different shades of pink (for example) before picking the right one. Then I realized that my yarn and fabric stashes need enhancing big time! By the way, this is my current project, the granny square afghan. I'm going to make the ripple afghan, but decided to go granny as a tester for the colours first. I want more soft and dark neutrals to balance the brights. Wow, there are so many beautiful crochet afghans on Ravelry and flickr right now, I'm amazed!

Here is a little thrifted doll dress. I left the doll at the store because it was really not my taste.

I got this tin this week, at a thrift store in Vancouver.

This is one of my favorite thrift stores, not because I have particularly good luck there but because it has character. The floors are wonkey. I want to live there! Oh, the prices are really good too, what thrift store prices should be! It's in Steveston. (for you Vancouverites)

I also got two of these nesting tins this weekend at another thrift store in Steveston. It was a tin can week! Love these roses.

Peacock

This is Fleece Artist hand dyed Blue Face Leicester, called Peacock. Yesterday a client cancelled, so instead of rustling something else up I spun. Well, wouldn't you have?




So anyway, the above became this.


I discovered a few things spinning this batch. I only had one sliver (the guy you see curled up in the first picture) so I broke it in two and spun two bobbins. When I plied them, my blues came out together and the darks came out together, not what I was wanting. I could have planned that a little better. Also I had quiet a bit left on one of the bobbins. If I had weighed both half slivers before I began, I would know if it was my spinning that differed so much.

I can't tell you how exciting it is to play with colour in this way. It really is magical. Today I got a vegetable steamer at Value Village, to make my own painted rovings!!!

Fibrefest Expo 2008

Fibre filled, that's how I spent my weekend. What a thrill!

This is a spool and sliver of Blue Face Leicester hand dyed by Fleece Artist. I couldn't resist the colours and it was my intention to buy one dyed sliver anyway. The rest of my purchases (Fine Shetland, Merino top and more Blue Faced Leicester) were all white, so I can do some hand dyeing myself. I also bought a beautiful chocolate Alpaca. The fibre, not the live animal! The next day was rainy, so we didn't get to go kite flying as planned, so poor me, had to stay in and spin....

I came up with this!

Go on, take a closer look!

Another afternoon of knitting and I came up with this! I did it! My first project with my first hand spun! I can't tell you how luxurious this scarf feels. It's smooth, elastic and has a lot of weight to it, something like alpaca.

More on Fibrefest in the next post. See you soon!

Behind the Wheel

Look! I got my new spinning wheel! After researching wheels and trying out a few, at home, through my spinning class, I choose the Lendrum folding wheel . At first when I brought the tester home I thought it felt too high, sitting at my usual place, on the couch. Once I moved to this chair it felt perfect, in more ways than one. You see I bought this chair years ago at the flea market, and it hung around for years looking ratty. I finally recovered it recently, and even though it looked great in the space, no one really used it. Not so anymore! It seems like another puzzle piece that's fallen into place. Too bad I can't show you the before picture of the chair. (I deleted it by mistake.)

Here's the wheel folded. I was making a brown paper pattern for a carry case and decided to use some oil cloth, recently purchased and a woolly mattress cover for padding. I wanted to use coroplast (you know, that corrugated plastic) for something to stiffen it. I tried cardboard for the prototype.

I worked late into the night and made a big mess trying to figure out the logistics of all of it. When it came to sewing the oil cloth to the padding it just wasn't going to happen. It was too thick and tricky. I have an idea that I think may work, but it's a project that's on hold for the moment.

Have a fun and productive week everyone!