Muskaan's Poppy

 

I was asked if I could tat a flower to go on the top of a funeral urn. I'll give it a go! The first flower that came to mind was the poppy on muskaan's patterns page. It's been on my to-do list for ages, so this was a good chance to try it out. Of course, my first attempt has a number of faults, but it was alright for a sample. When Myriam collected it, she asked if I could tat a sprig of lavender. Mmm, I expect so. Anyone know of a pattern for lavender? I'll have a go at making one up, but if there's already one out there, I'm keen to hear about it. 

Fraternal

 

I like the idea of socks that are related but not identical. Whether my market customers will, I don't know! But it's just as well I did this pair like that, as any variations in dyeing extra wool are less noticeable. 

Dyed In The Wool

 

I've been thinking for a while that I should dye some wool before spinning it.  I need stock for an upcoming market, but don't have any specific orders at the moment, so it's a good time to experiment. I poured dyes onto the the wool roving and then put it in the oven to set the dyes. 

When the roving was dry, I split it lengthways into about 8 strips, because I didn't want the colour sections to be too long. I spun the wool, starting each strip at the same end so that the colour changes would be in sequence. And then I navajo plyed it. What does that mean? Normally I spin two threads with the wheel turning clockwise and then ply them together with the wheel moving anticlockwise. In navajo plying, you use one thread and with the wheel moving anticlockwise, loop the thread in a large chain, like finger crochet, but loosely. It creates a '3-ply' yarn and doesn't muddle the colours as much as normal plying would.

Here's the yarn. Now to see what it looks like knitted up. I think I have enough to knit a hat. 

Caught Short

 

I thought I had enough light and dark green wool to knit a pair of socks. I didn't. I've spun another batch of wool, dyed two skeins dark green and two light, plus a couple of small skeins to finish the sock. It makes me feel that I'm locked in to green, but it's not really a problem. Better that than have a half knitted sock lurking!

Craft Group

 I'm still going along every Friday to a retirement home to run a craft group. Yesterday we covered cardboard boxes with fabric, inside and out, to make a bedroom dustbin. Or a box to hold knitting yarn perhaps. I found this tutorial via Pinterest to help me prepare.

Last week we made stands for a mobile phone out of (donated, unused) medical spatulas, decorated with pictures cut from greeting cards. Apparently, they've proved very popular. Yesterday everyone reported back that friends had asked where they could get one! I use mine when I'm working in the kitchen, it keeps my phone off the messy table top.

There's a video here that shows how to make them.

Augusta

 

The weather is beginning to get cool, I need to make woolly things for the next market table. This is Augusta, designed by Lena Marie Gjerald. I've used it before, for an order. Having printed the pattern out, it's good to use it more than once. I used wool I had left over from a yarn order, quite finely spun, which makes the gloves very elegant in person. If no one buys them, I may just wear them myself! 

The Answer

 

We're still having long power outages, but our son has made a cunning plan and installed solar power for us. It's absolutely wonderful. I can't use the electric stove when the mains power is off, but other than that we can carry on pretty much as normal. The sewing machine makes no impression on the system, so I can sew whether there is an outage or not.

Please Finish This

 

I was handed the parts of a pullover and asked to turn them into something wearable. Really it just needed sewing together and the neck knitted. There were a few other things to sort out. I embroidered the face using duplicate stitch. And sorted out the hole formed when the knitter forgot to cross yarns when changing colours:

I just used yellow yarn to close up the hole. I was a bit puzzled by the original knitters method of  working single stitches for the ears etcetera:

It looks as though she has used a separate bit of yarn for each stitch, tying it in a knot at the back. Very laborious! I left them as they were, though I suppose I could have undone them and used duplicate stitch instead. I think it looks alright from the right side. Teddy Bear Sweater, designed by Gill Theokritoff, is now ready for winter. 

I'm Back

 Or my computer is. Sort of. The computer people had to put a new hard drive in. They saved my photos and documents and things, hooray, but all my passwords have disappeared, along with things like my image resizer. I had planned to put photos of what I've been doing in the last couple of weeks on here, but I'm rapidly running out of patience as I try to set things up again! Here's one:

My neighbour asked me to make a cover for a baby seat for her expected grandchild. I used cotton yarn I had on hand, which gives it a cheery look. Granny will have to attach the straps needed to keep baby in place, my part is done. Now,  back to finding passwords in notebooks and exploring to see what else I need to do to function as before.... 

Too Patient

 Turns out there’s such a thing as being too patient. When I called in at the computer repair shop they said don’t call us, we’ll call you. So I waited patiently until yesterday. When I phoned, it was clear they’d forgotten me and my computer. They promised to have it ready today. I phoned this afternoon (no more patient waiting) to be told they were still working on it. So I won’t have it for Easter. 

On the other hand, I took my sewing machine to be serviced this morning. It was done in a couple of hours and is now purring along as I finish sewing a blouse. 

Tatting Day

 I took my tatting along to the morning market yesterday. I did get some comments. The stall holder next to me said she has a shuttle but needs to revise her tatting skills.

The market got off to a slow start, but eventually I sold enough to make it worthwhile. I sold several jars of pickles as well as wool and gloves. I only sold one puppet, which is unusual, they usually sell well.