Spin me right round - December update

Just one single post in December! Why? Well, I except for a couple of small special orders from friends and family I haven't been knitting much lately. (Ok I spend some time - too much time! - with an alpaca/cotton sweater with a crazy ad lib-make-it-up-as-you-knit-kinda-pattern that ended up in nothing but that's all.) Partly because I've been suffering from shoulder pains and colds these last two months but also because I've realized something about my knitting... I fear that it's not really the knitting I like. It's the fibre. It's the wool. That must be the reason why I almost never finish anything unless I have to (when knitting gifts for example). That's why I love planning projects but grow tired of it when I'm halfway and start looking at some other patterns, colors, yarn. It's the fibre itself that I like. Maybe I'm having some sort of wool fetisch?

So during my knitting drought I returned to spinning and boy have I spun. I even got me a spinning wheel. It's really old, almost antique, and I knew almost nothing about spinning wheels when I got it. It must have been dear to somebody because it has been mended at a hundred different spots. But it still hardly work. The few seconds that it works it really wonderful but then I spend hours and hours fixing it here and there... I hate stuff that don't work! However, studying it has really made me want one! That works that is.

The new family member that I love and hate at the same time.

 But until I can afford a new one - pray that it will be soon! - me and my spindle are best friends. Here are some of the things I've spun lately.

 

Yarn crafts for kids II

Remember the beautiful yarn balloons that you can make with your kids? Old post here.
You can use the same technique for making yarn bowls as well, using a glass or plastic bowl as model. I didn't think of that... Ideas on yarn crafts for kids without knitting is great. Will keep my little one busy while I can keep buying yarn without guilt!

Art displaying art

Ok, so I know that most wouldn't agree that knitting is art. But it can be! Anyway, the sculpture behind this piece is truly skillful.

Art by Emlyn Budds.

I did it, I bought a spider! No, I mean a dragonfly! No...I mean...

..a spindle!
Not long ago I blogged about my newest google-research-topic which is how to spin your own yarn with a drop spindle. And now I have finally bought one! Can't wait until it arrives. With four weeks of vacation coming up in July, there will be som serious spinning!

I always seem to forget the Swedish word for spindle, which is "slända" - pronounced "slenn-dah", and instead say spindle with a Swedish pronounciation "spin-dell". And that's the Swedish word for spider. So when I confessed to my spouse that I had bought a spider, he was confused. Then I said that I had bought a "slända", but he was still confused since "slända" also means dragonfly! But of course he suspected that it was something fibre-related... I wonder why...

Too many socks lying around the house?

You can make art of anything. Even old socks. This portrait of Chinese film director Zhang Yimou by Red Hong proves it. She made it by arranging 750 (probably new) socks using pins and bamboo sticks. A pretty good work, don't you think?

 More pics here.

Round rag rug and super deals

Isola has been very ill the last week, with high fever, a cough from hell and an ear infection on top of that. We have been locked up inside the house for days and I have really wished that I had a project to pick up in between blowing noses and giving medication. OK I always have projects, I meant that I had yarn. The right yarn. To match my mood. But I had time to try an experiment that I've been thinking about lately, namely knitting rag rugs. But it didn't work out well. Not even my fatest needles were fat enough. So I tried to crochet by hand instead. It's really really mindless and sort of calming...round and round it goes... looks like this so far:

But I made a real bargain yesterday. Found out that Garnstudio had a special edition release of one of their Drops yarns for only SEK 7 a skein (which is a tad more than a dollar) and I managed to put my hands on 25 skeins before they were completely sold out after one day in the stores. So now I suddenly have several projects just screaming for attention. I think I will start with something for Isola though. Some of the finds I made...

A bowl with yarn

I don't think that I would have appreciated the concept of yarn bowls so much if I didn't have cats. When I knit and yank the yarn it happens that the ball rolls down from the couch and over the floor, sending quiet signals to my two cats to come and play. And even if they leave it alone it always end up strands of cat hair in the yarn. Problem solved with a yarn bowl! Here are some to explore, all from Etsy, all handmade.

Lamb shaped from A Speer Ceramic Studio.

Teal yarn bowl from Uturn.

Bowl with scrolls from jampdx.

Shiny and black in stoneware from Dragon Pottery

The other needle II: Crocodile stitch

I would like knit an airy top for kids with some crocodile stitch added too it. Why? Not sure... I don't remember how I came up with this idea. But I decided to give the crocodile stitch a go, it's been a while since I crocheted. I prefer the looks of knitted items but crochet works great for details and brims. And it's fun! Almost as fun as knitting...

I looked around and decided to use this tutorial by Teresa to learn the crocodile (or petal) stitch.  Even though it's not ideal to use a multicoloured yarn when you want to give a clear demonstration of a somewhat complicated stitch, I still think that she does the job and you quickly get the hang of it.

It was great fun to crochet this stitch and I got a little carried away, the swatch turned into a scarf.

Zero calories

Cutting down on snacks and sweets as a new year resolution? Fear not, you can still enjoy crocheted deliciousness!

Visit Melbangel Crafts for patterns!

Yarn crafts for kids

Today is Isola's second birthday. Happy birthday sweetheart! This is the first birthday when she is old enough to find it exciting to receive gifts and get all the attention, although it makes her feel very shy at times. It 's wonderful to see the expression on her face when she opens her presents. You can actually not tell if a certain gift will be a hit or not before she opens it. And you never really know how she will use it. One of her favorite toys are a box of pearls. But she doesn't use it for making necklaces, she pours the pearls in cups and have tea parties.

I really look forward to her getting a couple of years older so that we can craft together! I could spend hours crafting when I was a kid (I still do if I only get the chance!) For example, I used to glue different materials together to make dolls. I remember when I was about five and kept nagging my Mom that she'd teach me how to knit. This is what she did: She cast on and knitted a couple of rows. Then she gave me needle and told me to poke and pierce the piece with the other needle for about five minutes. Then I would give the knitting back to her "for inspection" at which she'd quickly knit another couple of rows to trick me ínto believing that I had actually knit something. I don't know why she didn't even try to teach me the real way. Maybe she knew enough about my patience to see that it wouldn't work. Needles to say, I found knitting to be very boring...

I think that I will try to teach Isola to do whatever she wants when she is ready to learn. There are so many different crafts that you can do with your kids! Here are some of them - all yarn-related of course.



Yarn apple, tutorial here.



Yarn heart, tutorial here.



Yarn balloons by Jessica Levitt. Tutorial here.

 



The other needle

I'm only a few days away from moving and might be able to unpack my boxes with knitting stuff in a week from now, at our new place. But I can tell you, with tons left to do, a sick toddler at home, and with stormy and rainy weather every day, I've missed my needles more than ever. Just to be able to relax with a few minutes mindless knitting...

As I've cleaned out our attic and looked through a bunch of forgotten boxes, I've found almost enough stuff to start a craft store. I used to paint so there were a lot of artist material but also fabric, pearls and lots and lots of carded wool. I discovered needle felting a couple of years ago and really enjoyed making little wool figures and toys. Needle felting is a dry felting technique where you stab a barbed wire through wool fibres hundreds of times, making the fibres interlock and form different shapes. I'm not sure why I stopped making them, I sold some in Sweden and I did open an Etsy shop too, but then I suppose that I just ran out of enough interesting ideas.. But I can see myself picking it up again in the future. I really like the feel of felted wool.

Feel like panda sushi, anyone?