DONE: Tea cozy

Got a few hours? Want to have something that looks like cables? Well, mock cables in a tea cup cozy is just the thing!

This is a beautifully soft Scottish Angora/Wool yarn done up in slipped stitch cable.

This is not an actual cable but more of a bound stitch. Still pretty.

WIP: Spinning Lessons --Skeins and Singles AND WIP: Tunisian Crochet Afghan

Excuse the long title but I needed to do one entire post for this one. Some people (who shall remain nameless) think that I do spinning on a small basis. A spinning wheel is just a toy for me to do my meager amount of spinning. I laughed, and they did not understand me. Let me show you what I have done since I got my new "toy."

You remember those red wool singles I gave up on?

Look who has plied them on her new spinning wheel!!

Probably, over filled the bobbin, but it did say it holds 100g... right?

Yeah so those were pretty right? Yeah ok confession time...

This is really what I have been doing:

Behold, my new skeins!

If you count that is 15 skeins (1 on the bobbin resting) and 2 singles.
I have a lace weight single on the wheel now.
Minus 1 of the orange skeins in the middle all these were plied on my wheel.
 All the ones in the middle where also spun on my wheel (minus 1 of course).
The two teal ones and the one on the bobbin are done using Navajo plying.

Is spinning all I have been doing? Of course not!!

Say hello to my way of getting rid... I mean using up my
acrylic yarn! This will end up being a throw/afghan using tunisian crochet!
It is a bit on the rolling up side so excuse the sea salt grinder in the picture.

Also, I have been working on a Plarn bag. Oh yes another one of those things... So to my lovely friend out there, yes my spinning wheel may be a toy but it is one that I love, so stop dissing on JULIE!

Kitty 6: I am a Fibre Artist.

At the end of the day, one must be true to oneself. My real motivation is my artwork. Right now I am into fibre arts which I know will be a passion for the rest of my life. So to celebrate that I found some small momentos on Etsy. Becka Rahn in conjunction with her husband made these beautiful ornaments that went well with my tribute to fibre artists everywhere!

Here is my tribute to all fibre artists out there! And how can you dislike such
cute little designs. They are all about 1.0-2.0 inches (2.54-5.08cm).

 Just for a closer view of each, they are all ornaments.

I couldn't resist really with this one.

I saw this one in a blog post which is where I discovered the artist!

Just stunning, this is really woven on!

Look at that cute heddle! 

Just in case you wanted to see the sides of the kitty I made:

Cooking up a good meal

In these cold times a good meal is worth the effort. I made my stroganoff and it looked so lovely I thought I would share a picture of it!

That is beef, garlic, sour cream, lipton onion soup, worcestershire sauce and tagliatelle noodles.

Done: Red/Purple Felted Bag

So my failed attempt at a spinning wheel bag has become a nice fuzzy felted bag. I will find something to put in it.

The red yarn is wool that was my hand spun and the purple is Scappa Scottish wool.

A lot of hot water and a pet slicker brush later...

I love the bottom of this bag!

Done: Spindolyn Bean Bag

Remember that Alpaca yarn I dyed, and redyed because I hated how it came out the first time? If not you can find that post here.

Maybe I was a bit harsh on it. It looks good with those white places!

Bottom is filled with wax pellets.

 So dramatic the scene outside my window!

Deliveries! Fibre and Wax

It snowed here today. SNOWED! But I got a nice welcome in my mailbox. Two deliveries in one day AND another on its way tomorrow!

Yup, I wonder what this HUGE tub of wax is for...
Looks over at Julie... My niddy noddy is Aaron so it gets some too.

Now for the Fibreholics small sampler I bought the other day!

Another fine sample from MandaCrafts.co.uk. This one is as you can read: Space-dyed Falkland. I am not sure what "Space-Dyed" is but it is beautiful!

Extremely excited about this one! It has Bamboo and Merino. And you did see that right it is called Snail on a Mushroom! From the lovely www.thewhorlsend.co.uk.

Isn't this just uplifting as a colorway! Sweet peas is a great name for it! Superfine Merino 100s (70%) and Silk top (30%). If only the screen had touch you could feel how gorgeous this is going to be to work with. From the wonderful www.colourfuldesigns.co.uk

From Myheartexposed.co.uk, another repeat seller, comes this beautiful MHE Corriedale!

I am looking forward to this one... Superwash merino... Yes anyone who has read my blog knows I said never again! But maybe my spinning wheel will be just the answer for it! And her Gothick colorway is just too tempting. www.freyalyn.blogspot.com

Delays expected and To dos.

I was waiting on a package for the kitty for this week, I am still waiting for it. It will be in on Tuesday so I will post the kitty then! I have not made my weight loss goal as of yet but with all this junk food (well being taken out on dates) I have not been keeping to my WWs points strictly enough (I have not gone over board I just need to switch back to my original plan). The 115kg limit is a hard one to break, last time it took me over 2 months of walking 60 min a day to finally get myself below that mark then the weight just falls off until I am 105kg. I am blaming myself for this one but I will be kicking it up a notch. Get myself over that sticking weight. I do not get discouraged very easily.

Oh, I was wondering the other day how many points I could claim for doing spinning... I am not sure what kind of exercise it is like...

My spinning wheel's name is now Julie. Yup, I was walking down the stairs of my building and it came to me. It looks like a Julie.

Enough of that, now onto my hopeful To-Do list:

1. Set the twist for my yarn I have spun (about 200yds)
2. Ply my smaller skeins and balls I have put off
3. Read the spinning wheel sections of my books (so excited).
4. Crochet kitty for tuesday and next saturday
5. Update Ravelry
6. Make a proper wheel bag (I will be posting my first failed attempt)
7. Update with projects I have done and not mentioned yet
8. I see shawls, bags, scarves, and more amigurumis in my future
9. Work on border collie amigurumi
10. Stash busting -- both of fibre and yarn -- If you can fill a big Build-A-Bear bag with yarn, you have too much yarn for student accommodation. Also, if you look at your fibre and go I forgot I had that, you have way too much fibre for such a small space.

Some may wonder if I do plan on selling my yarn I make. To be honest, I know its luxury or art yarn to have thick and thin places but I wouldn't feel right selling my first few attempts. Also, I am trying to find a bag style I like to sell, maybe some scarves as well. I have been working on my own amigurumi patterns for sale as well.

However, I am a full time PhD student and I do these crafts in my spare time (which will become a lot less in the next few months), so I do actually have to sleep sometime. Probably, later in the year I may feel brave enough to setup a shop. I have before done things I wouldn't think anyone wanted, but one drawing of mine has proven otherwise (its appeal was hidden because someone saw something more into the shape of a pitcher then I had intended). I am one of those crafters who think "who on earth would want to buy anything I make?" You'de be surprised, there are many people in this world and there is something for everyone!

Phew, normally I don't put so much personal commentary in posts but I feel sometimes it is needed. But of course I am a picture person too!

What you talkin' 'bout Willis?
This is Sarah Beth.

Spinning Wheel!!

It came yesterday and the oil and niddy noddy I got in today! My brand new spinning wheel is an Ashford Traveller, with natural finish, double treadle, and double drive (which has an option to do scotch tension). It is pretty light now but I have wax coming in as well! As you can see in the pictures I have a radiator in the most awkward place in my room but my wheel is as far away from that as possible.

My oil, niddy noddy sampler, and the hand-spun skein
from a previous post!

So I put this thing together with a screw driver, allen wrench, measure tape, and a bit of improvisation on "candle wax." Some who have put their ashfords together will recall a small step where you hammer a metal rod into the slit on the wheel. I did not have a hammer and you don't want to know what my £10 screwdriver's shaft looks like now. But I got it in! When I had just finished tying the drive band on, our fire alarm went off in my building, for real. No fire just an idiot opening a door instead of a window in a place with all doors as fire doors (which contained the smoke in the hallway) and one of our clean staff pressed the black button. Sigh. It would have been just my luck! But it is safe as you can see and so am I at this moment. I have been spinning for the last two days, getting used to things and I just love it, soo much faster with plying and spinning in general! This would have helped when I spun alpaca the other day!

Ok now onto the spinning wheel!

That honey color on the center of the wheel is what its going to look like with wax, thats a bit of oil that spilt.

WIP and Done: Autumn Dreams

So I have been quiet lately. I have been rather busy with dating and trying to catch up on some sleep. We have construction going on in the stores below so that is not helping anything. However, I have been spinning at night and trolling the Ebay auctions during the day. I have missed out on 5 spinning wheels in the last 3 weeks and my parents were questioning me highly on what I wanted in a spinning wheel when I was at home. It made me want one more then ever! I came home and looked at my HUGE stash of fibre and my heart sank slightly. I have my Yak silvery blend and my bats from Rogue Adventures were staring at me. So I started spinning both but now that has all come to halt!

Why? Because my parents have generously donated me some money to buy my own spinning wheel!! What kind did I get? Well... I will let you know on Thursday when it arrives! I am not the type to giggle but I did, many many times when I got off the phone from the lovely lady at Handspinner.co.uk (Shiela Dixon). If you visit her site you will know I got some kind of Ashford, but that is all I am saying!

Ok so why is the post labelled as a WIP and Done: Autumn Dreams? Because, I have spun a lot of the October colorway from Rogue Adventures. I was trolling the internet, well youtube, looking up my new spinning wheel and there is a video on how to use a ball winder with your spinning wheel. Then using the center pull ball to ply on the spinning wheel. Well, wanted to give the technique a try I plied some of my spun yarn using this technique with my spindolyn. I did not do all of it, nor have spun all the roving.

That is the WIP:

This is the single I spun on the spindolyn! It will be plied on the wheel!
Weight: 23g

Now for the Done:

Nice reddish hue with yellow and brown accents!

Up close pictures of parts of the yarn.

My little skein. If it looks this good on from the Spindolyn who knows
how great it will look from the wheel!! Can't wait!
Weight: 15g
Length: I am getting in a niddy noddy as well so I will be able to tell you
sometime next week.