Fried Egg Tote Bag

I knit this tank top in 2010. When I finished it and put it on I saw that the variegated yarn had pooled color into "nice" uneven fried egg splotches in the most awkward place. It was the same on the back so I could not wear it backwards.

A friend suggested I convert it into a bag. Once I refolded the tank, the armholes became handles!

The tank languished for many years. However, yesterday, I decided to dig into the sewing UFO (Un-Finished Objects) stack and work my way through it. I finished 6 things including the bag!

This is the lining, fully interfaced. I laid the knit tank on top of the fabric and rough cut the shape.

I also added a pocket with some fabric that reminded me of the first garment I made for myself back in 9th grade. Yes, I made a wrap skirt with fabric in shades of brown with clusters of mushrooms all over. For kicks I searched for "1980's wrap skirt patterns" and found the exact same one on Etsy here. My teacher asked me twice if I was sure about the fabric choice. Of course I was! I wish I still had the skirt because it must have been most hilarious.

Once I had the body sewn and the corners tucked to make a flat bottom I had to clip and fold the lining into the handles one edge at a time.

Then sew each one after pinning before moving onto the next edge.

I did have to patch the top of the handle as I didn't cut the lining long enough to go over the shoulder/handle. You can barely see it.

Corner button that I think adds a nice detail to the bag.

Finished bag. I love it!

Sometimes its good not to think to much or measure to much about a project. Just wacking out fabric shapes is not my normal way of sewing. This on-the-go method is freeing and a UFO got crossed off the list.

Quick Cowl

I spent a weekend with my sister in Pasadena a few weeks ago. Out of character, I did not bring a project with me. Most of the time I bring something with me to work on wherever I go but then never work on it. This time I decided I'd packed enough and did not think I would have time anyway. Well...

I stayed an extra night and suddenly I was desperate for some handwork. Skein is a shop nearby that I had not been to in many years. I checked to see if the shop was open and I had one hour to get there and buy something.

The proprietor was great. She showed me lots of easy one skein projects I could pick up quickly. I settled on a cotton yarn and a sample cowl in the shop that I could manage without a lot of thought. Of course I needed knitting needles too.

This yarn...

Became this cowl...

Here it is flat...

Super easy! Using size 9, 16" circular needles, cast on multiples of 8 plus 7 stitches. Join in the round. Knit 4, purl 4. Continue until you want to bind off or when you run out of yarn. I cast on 95 stitches to make a tall cowl. You could cast on 119 stitches for a longer loop that's narrower.

I used the whole ball of yarn. I had 47 inches left. Did I say super easy already?!?

Studio 49 Retreat 2017 Challenge part 3

I changed my mind.

It happens often when thinking about a project. I start with one idea and it morphs into something else until finally I start. Then it morphs again. This is what's going on now with my Retreat challenge project.

The hand spun yarn was going to be a hat. I made a gauge swatch to determine what size knitting needle I wanted to use. I started with size 7 at the bottom of the swatch. That's what the pattern calls for. The middle section is size 6 needle and then the top is size 5. I placed the swatch on a stitch holder because I didn't want to cut the yarn. I intend to use every bit.

The change of plan arose when I realized that I was not enjoying knitting this yarn. I like knitting with my hand spun yarn but this one didn't feel nice or fun. I don't know why. The yarn is soft and stretchy. Lovely to hold and touch, but not to knit with apparently.

My eyes lit upon my 10" Cricket rigid heddle loom and BOOM! I had a new idea.

I am going to weave a scarf. Having limited yardage presented some challenges; 232 yards of white, 155 yards of grey. Not a lot of yarn for weaving. So I set about trying to figure out what to make with what I had. I started with the 10 dent heddle and a Fibonacci sequence in the warp. I calculated a basic scarf at 8"x72" and discovered I did not have enough yarn. I want to feature the white Polwarth with a few grey BFL stripes.

I was inspired by the Biscuits and Jam Scarf by Sarah Jackson featured in the May/June issue of Handwoven Magazine. I'm lucky enough to be a fellow guild member of Sarah's and saw the beautiful scarf in person at the SCWSG June meeting. She wove hers in cotton with beaded weft fringes. Then sewed the ends together to make a circular scarf. I really liked the weft fringe idea.

I made drafts on paper first. Then I made a yarn wrap to see if I liked how the Fibonacci sequence looked.

I drew a scarf close to 1/8" scale and made more calculations. One set with 80 ends for an 8" wide scarf and one with 70 ends. I have just enough yarn (I think/hope) to make a scarf 7" wide with a weaving length of 60". There will be a small plaid section where I put another Fibonacci sequence in the weft at one end of the scarf.

If I run out of white weft then it will be a little shorter. But that's OK since I want to sew the ends together to make a loop and wear it like a cowl anyway.

I think I'm ready to start...

Studio 49 Retreat 2017 Challenge part 2

See this post for the beginning of this story.

I have finished spinning my yarn for the Studio 49 Retreat 2017 challenge. Yay! I scaled down my vasty many oz. project idea from last year. I decided that finishing it without undue stress and last minute spinning/knitting was going to be better for my health and for my family.

So the new project idea is to spin just the original 2oz. of creamy white Polwarth and 2oz. of lovely natural grey BFL (BlueFaced Leicester) I have in my stash. I will finish two separate yarns and knit a 2-color Mosaic Sampler Hat. A new technique and a small doable project! Sort of unusual for me. But smart this time around.

My singles.

I wanted a 2 ply yarn so I needed to divide the singles into two sections to ply. I didn't want to ply from a single ball for some mysterious reason. Here is my set up. I weighed an empty bobbin then weighed the full bobbin and did some calculations to figure out what my end half bobbin should weigh so I had two close to even singles ready to ply.

The red box is my homemade shoe-box lazy kate with tension device. I made her when I first started spinning in 2003 and she is still my go-to kate. Almost there with the divided singles.

Two pairs of singles!

Plying set up.

I used my 1970's Ashford Traditional spinning wheel with the jumbo bobbin set up to ply both yarns into big skeins. I added a couple extra treadle pushes to get the tighter twist I wanted.

My two finished skeins and a close up of the lovely yarn. The grey BFL is a wee bit thicker than the Polwarth.

The yarns wet finished nicely. Both are soft and squishy. The Polwarth in particular is stretchy and the creamy white just glows. It's going to be fun to knit the hat. But first...must knit a swatch!

Knitting Needle Storage

Recently, my knitting needle storage went from this...

To this...

Each size has it's own bag. I sorted all the various straights, circulars and double points by size. The bags are contained on two giant separating rings. The two bundles do take up a little more space. BUT, I can actually see what I have now and easily search for what I need. I discovered that I had more of each size than I thought I had. Many never used. Not all of them very useful based on the type of projects I like to make. Then again now that I can find the right needles I might use them more.

I have to thank my friend Wendy for the idea.

Tony's Socks

I tried to darn my husbands old store-bought house socks. Disaster! First, repair yarn was too thick and really, the socks had just too many holes. They are after all 20+ years old.

Then I saw the Bulky Sleep Sock pattern from a class at Yarn del Sol. Loved the simplicity. So I bought yarn, Plymouth Yarn Encore Chunky, and started this week on my very first pair of socks.

Tony's socks are grey with brown toes, heels and cuffs.

My first short rows and provisional cast on. Neither was as difficult as I thought it would be. Although...

My provisional cast on using a crocheted chain gave me a little trouble. As you can see in the center of the photo below, I split the gray yarn of the crochet chain when I picked up the new stitch in brown yarn. It meant that when I finished the short row toe section I could not unchain the provisional cast-on easily to pick up the live stitches. I had to cut the yarn at each split stitch. There was more than one split.

I worked both socks concurrently on different needles. One sock with magic loop and the other with 2 circulars holding stitches and a third circular for the knitting.

I only had the right size needles in circulars of varying lengths. It is a little spidery but it's working out.

A whole toe! And if you look carefully some of the picked up stitches from the provisional cast-on chain are twisted (right side of brown toe at the color change). I guess I picked up the wrong leg of the live stitches. I didn't see it until I'd knit several more rows. I was able to place them on the bottom of the foot. None the wiser!

A heel! Identical to how the toe was made.

A whole foot!

Two feet. And I ended up buying a second set of needles with a long cable to do magic loop. The spidery multi-needle mess got to be unwieldy.

Finished. A very thick and warm pair of house socks for my best guy.

 Happy feet!

Hitchhiker with Stripes & Beads!

Yarn del Sol, my local shop, hosted a knit-along for a beaded version of the Hitchhiker scarf. It's an asymmetrical triangular shawl with 42 points on one edge. A very easy knit. The knit-along included instruction on how to add beads at each point.

I purchased a skein variegated light teals (yarn on the right) from In The Deep Hue Sea at YDS.

These were my beads of choice.

Then I started and stopped for many months knitting very slowly.

I eventually got to about the 30th point and realized that I was going to run out of yarn to make all 42 points. I could have stopped anytime but for some crazy reason was determined to make all 42 points! So I dug into my stash and found the lovely variegated dark teal yarn (left in first photo at top) I had leftover from another project. It's Ranco from Arucania Yarns. It was almost the same grist and the color was a great match.

I had created this little chart to count my rows. You'd think I could remember an 8 row repeat in garter stitch with increases on only one side. But I could never figure out which side I was on whenever I stopped. The chart was my memory. I also used it to work out stripes using a very short Fibonacci (D/L=Dark/Light yarn) sequence.

And the finished result. I think it turned out just great.

Studio 49 Retreat 2016

My 11th retreat with some wonderful people up in Northern CA. Part of the Motherlode Weavers & Spinners Guild, Studio 49 meets on Saturdays for more textile arts.

The first retreat was in 2006. I went with my dear friend, Kathleen, when I was 7 months pregnant with Ian. The weekend was intimate, small and full of comradery. I've been every year thus far and it has retained the same intimacy and friendship. I just love this group of weavers, spinners, knitters, dyers and artists. We've changed locations, weather fronts, food options and activities, but the loveliness remains the same.

My sister, mom and best friend caravaned up in two cars stuffed to the rafters with all the paraphernalia we might need for a 3 day stay. Sleeping gear, clothes for all weather, crafts to do, crafts to share, items to sell, gifts to give and of course an empty bag or two to bring home all the goodies we might collect.

Sunrise Saturday morning. The hill on the right is still a bit blackened from the Yosemite fire 2 years ago. We weren't sure if the retreat was going to happen that year. The fire was under control just in time.

Our shared Studio 49 Retreat 2015 10th anniversary fiber goodies. I love the different ways the same fiber get spun up with different hands touching it. My Deadline shawl is on the bottom right.

Made by retreat fairies, these handmade, hand quilted, hand appliqued placemats were a gift to every attendee at the annual luncheon tea. Aren't they just adorable?!?

Retreat swag. An apron, 2 oz. of Polworth Top (our challenge fiber for 2017), knitting patterns, fiber samples, handmade soap, and a hand sewn drawstring bag sewn by the same retreat fairies.

Stuff I bought. More Polworth Top (because 2 oz. is just not enough!), fiber batts from Dreamy Goat Design Studio, knitted sheep bag by Lea, handwoven scarf by Virginia, and some pick up sticks. Some of these items are destined to be gifts.

Stuff I won in the raffle! We have a huge raffle full of amazing items from many many great vendors. 

I got lucky this year. A Zoom Loom with Woven Turtle Kit, a bump of pencil roving from Noro and a lovely orifice hook.

This is one half of our great room. Several concentric circles of spinners flow in and around each other.

This is the other half of the great room.

My gang. (from left to right) Me, my mom, my sister and my best friend. The gourds are all by my mother. The big dog gourd is a custom order created for one of our fiber friends.

Can't go wrong with having family and friends share in our love of arts and crafts. Thanks to everyone at Studio 49 Retreat for another great year!