Storage Bobbins

The cotton spinning continues but lately I've been transferring the singles to Bobbins-Up storage bobbins and allowing them to add up so that plying will result in bigger skeins rather than the tiny half ounce ones that come directly from the charkha spindles.

 

The protruding "bits" of these storage bobbins fit directly into a standard drill for faster, easier transfer from the spindles. Later the bit is removed and the bobbins can be placed on a Lazy Kate for plying on a spinning wheel.

Under Construction

We've been very busy lately. My sewing room is getting a much needed overhaul. Over the past few days, with a whole lot of work and many, many trips up and down the stairs, I've gone from the photo on the left, to the one on the right.

Much of what had been in the sewing room landed in the family room downstairs where it will have to stay until the sewing room is once again habitable.

Plans are in the works for new flooring, new paint, a large Kallax cube storage unit, a desk from IKEA, and a sturdy new pressing station made from a Kallax cube unit. The biggest ordeal will likely be the removal of a built in closet and patching the scars it leaves behind.

But this closet takes up way too much space in the tiny 9'5" x 9'9" room and doesn't store a lot in return. My new desk will go there instead.

Twilight Fuschia Squid

The "Twilight Fuschia" yardage has now found its way into a garment. I've sewn it up into a Saori top/dress that is, amongst Saori weavers, commonly called "The Squid". Usually it's a shorter top, I've lengthened my version.

I really love the draped collar on this design. It's great for showing off interesting fringe treatments like the "finger fringe" I've done here. 

Finger fringe is tedious and time consuming to weave, but the results are, I think, worth the effort.

My Squid is 100% cotton, mostly 2/8, but with some 2/10 and 2/16 included as well. The wandering pattern is "travelling inlay" done in commonly available "kitchen cotton", the kind used to knit dish cloths.

The Squid design is based on a folded layout that makes the front completely on the bias, 

while the back has one side with the warp situated vertically and the other side horizontally.

I'm very happy with the way my "Twilight Fuschia Squid" has turned out and I'll be wearing it often. There will be more variations on this theme in my future, I'm sure.

Step Lively

5 ounces of 20 wpi., 3 ply handspun, 70/30 dark grey New Zealand wool/Mulberry Silk in the "Step Lively" colourway, which was hand dyed by Allonsy-y! fibre arts. The fibre was a gift last Christmas from a very generous friend. I finally got a start on spinning it at the Chilliwack Spinner's and Weaver's Guild's annual Spin-In and then finished spinning, and plying it at home in the days following the spin-in.

Cameo appearance by "Bella" my betta fish.

Back With the Yak

The yak I mentioned spinning on my charkha the other day is now a tiny 3 ply skein.

I should have thought to include some sort of size reference in the photo. In the photo the yarn looks like it is thick, but that's just a matter of perspective. The skein itself is very small. Only 0.72 of an ounce, and still 32 yards of 3 ply. It's very soft and squishy but I won't be looking to spin more yak in the future. It's not that it was terribly difficult, it just didn’t want to draft as easily as the cotton and turned out rather uneven with tufty bits as well. I'll happily return to the cotton.

Yakety Yak

Way back in May of 2007 I purchased some yak down and tried to spin it, unsuccessfully, on my Little Gem wheel.

Well now that I have a charkha I figured I'd give it another whirl (pun intended). Hmmm, still not too good, lots of thick and thin, but better than it was when spun on a wheel. I also have 12 more years of experience spinning! I'll ply the yak tomorrow and call that little experiment done, and happily return to spinning cotton on the charkha.

Gottcha!

We have stumbled upon the trick to keeping Venus Fly Traps healthy and growing.

Let them fend for themselves!

We've had this one since early May. Other than keeping the plant constantly wet and warm we simply put it outside. It seems Venus Fly Traps are quite capable of "feeding" themselves.

I don't know how it will fare when we have to bring it in for the winter. My home is pretty much fly free.

From His Closet

Another shirt taken over.

My husband wears denim shirts until they are stained or worn, but won't wear them with patches. At that point I happily take them over and refashion them into something I can, and will, use myself.

In general I'm happy with the oversized, comfortable, forgiving fit, but the sleeves are always way too long. In the past I've remedied the problem by completely removing the sleeves and making a boro vest. This time though the variable weather of fall has inspired me to leave the sleeves on. It makes for a great layering piece I can wear over summer tank tops when the weather decides to turn chilly.

I shortened the sleeves and added contrast cuffs using the tutorial in Paganoonoo's "Patti Blouse" pattern. I then used the original sleeve cuffs, snaps, pleats and all, as big, useful patch pockets. I always need somewhere to stuff my hands!

Hidden inside the left shirt front is an additional pocket, this one for my cell phone. 

I've covered a couple of paint stains with patches which have been embellished with sashiko stitching.

One stain is covered with a big "Judy" flower, tutorial also in the "Patti Blouse" pattern linked to above. The flower is attached with it's brooch pin. Some time in the future I may decide to replace it with an ordinary patch.

The collar of the shirt was worn and fraying so I covered it with fabric that matches the new cuffs.

I receive no compensation for the links I include in my blog. They are only there for your research convenience.

Six More = Ten

Another six shopping bags using the "Pillowcase Tote Tutorial" by Regina Lord of the Creative Kismet blog.

That brings my handmade bag stash to ten now, which gives me enough to have several waiting in the trunk of my car for impromptu grocery trips even if some of my bags are in the wash. Because dirty grocery bags are -- ewwww.

Now that I've made quite a few I have a tip to offer. Find KING sized pillowcases for this purpose. They give you enough length that the handles can be cut crosswise leaving you with a bag that is still of a nice width.

4 Fat Cops Lying in Wait

I spent a considerable portion of my day getting these chubby cops ready for tomorrow.

For tomorrow I'm borrowing a kind guild member's Woolee Winder so that I can try it on my Majacraft Little Gem wheel and see if I like it enough to request one for Christmas. I'll ply these cops of Sarepta Brown Cotton into a skein and if that goes well I'll also try spinning wool singles with the Woolee Winder as well.

(All links on my blog are only for your convenience. I get no compensation of any kind.)

Conflicting Opinions

In a more colourful nod to the "Magnolia Pearl" style I took a thrifted natural cotton canvas curtain and sewed up a pair of overalls using the "GW TR005" pattern by "GetWeaving" on Etsy. I then ice-dyed the finished garment. I was not satisfied with where the colours landed with the random nature of that sort of dyeing technique so I also used fabric paints to make a trail of marks down the front and back.

I love them! ---  My husband hates them. *sigh* He says they do nothing for my figure. Well concealing my "figure" was more of what I had in mind anyway and I am very happy with them.

I haven't actually gotten rave reviews from anyone else either, but they are SO comfortable and, well, FUN to wear that I'll likely ignore all negative opinions and just wear them anyway and enjoy myself.

More Bags = Less Bags

I found an excellent tutorial for upcycling pillowcases into great shopping bags. Keeping that in mind I waited and took a trip to Value Village on 50% off sale day and came home with 2 sets of pillowcases that looked brand new.

Using the tutorial at the Creative Kismet blog I whipped these up. They don't take long and they use up the entire pillowcase, no waste.

After making the first one (the small one on the right) I modified what I was doing to make the bags a little wider. In the tutorial you are instructed to take a piece off the side of the pillowcase to use later for the handles. I found it made the body of the bag too narrow and tall (I folded the excess height down to the inside in that first bag) and yet I had plenty of length in the pillowcase to work with.

For the larger three bags I decided to take a piece from one end of the pillowcase for the handles instead. With the really long pillowcases I had (kings maybe?) the modification worked very well. The proportions, I feel, are perfect.

This pillowcase to shopping bag tutorial makes very strong, comfortable to carry bags. The side walls are double thick and the bottom section, which uses the pillowcase hem, is triple thick.

So now that I have some sturdy washable bags for getting groceries I should be able to accept less of the environmentally disastrous plastic ones. I've heard rumours that our community will be banning single use plastic shopping bags in the future.

Dreamy Cotton

I'm so pleased with the little skein of 2 ply natural brown cotton!

It spun up beautifully! I have a whole pound of it to work with and it's so delightfully soft and squishy that I think I'll spin it into a 3 ply for knitting. But for now -- back to the white cotton I was working on.

Wandering a Little

Though I remain committed to spinning up all of the pound of white Acala cotton before moving on to other cotton preps, a whole pound of beautiful natural brown cotton showed up in the mail yesterday, a gift from a very generous online friend and mentor. I couldn't resist giving it a try.

After a few minutes getting to know what the shorter staple length wanted of me, I found the brown cotton spun up beautifully. I spun two cops worth yesterday and plan to ply them together today before going back to spinning the white Acala Cotton.

Nine Ribbons

I entered 8 exhibits in the 2019 Chilliwack Exhibition and managed to win 9 ribbons! 7 firsts, a second, and a Best in Show.

Firsts for a "counted cross-stitch on aida",

an "adult hat and scarf", (my Year in Temperatures Scarf with a hat to match)

a "recycled article with a major style change", (a tunic made from duvet cover)

"Spinning - any natural fibre, plied" (a 2 ply cotton)

"Collection of 3 or more decorative items", (16 of my Stitch Meditations")

"Yardage of woven material", (my travelling inlay Saori yardage)

"Wearable article woven with recycled material" (my coat from denim strips).
The coat also won a "Best in Show" rosette.

And in the "Scarf or cowl" category I received a second place. 

Little Life

If you've ever seen the cramped quarters and unhealthy water conditions of bettas waiting for adoption in some pet stores you'll know why this beautiful poem, "Little Life", by Autumn Rhinesmith, brought tears to my eyes. I wish I could adopt them all!

Impromptu Project

I was thinking today that it would be nice to have somewhere on my wheel where I could store my scissors and spinning wheel lubricant. Next thing I knew I was digging through my fabric scraps and this little fabric cup with pockets was born.

Long ago I bought an acrylic cup holder for my spinning wheel thinking it would be handy to keep a drink nearby, especially at crowded spin-ins. While cup holders work well on some wheels the only location for one on a LittleGem is right below the flyer. It didn't take long to discover that this results in debris from spinning falling straight into my coffee. 

If I use the acrylic cup to hold scissors or other tools they rattle while I spin. I decided a cloth liner would be just the thing. I even found remnants in my scrap box that match the applique I added to my spinning chair eleven years ago. The spinning related implements fit snuggly in the exterior pockets while the centre cup portion can be used like a tiny garbage can to contain the debris picked from wool while spinning. 

Time for Replacements

I finally got around to making replacement hanging towels for my kitchen.

The ones I made in 2016 are headed for the rag bag, well worn and past their "best before" date. They have served well and owe me nothing. I will salvage the buttons for the next batch though.

Pattern is a freebee published at "Keliosbelly". 

Mini Niddy Noddy

Another handy little tool made by my resident handyman. This time a small niddy noddy for winding the shorter skeins that come off the charkha.

It's not as pretty as the spindle Lazy Kate he recently made, but it is very functional and was whipped up in a hurry using this tutorial when I grew disenchanted with the skein winder included in the book charkha. The PVC Lazy Kate makes little mini skeins only 1 yard in diameter. 

These skeins, and 3 more full cops waiting to be plyed, are the result of my first week of spinning cotton on the charkha. The one closest to the bottom of the photo was the first, a 3ply. The remainder are 2 ply skeins. 

Spindle Lazy Kate

Look at the great charkha spindle Lazy Kate my husband came up with for me. It works great! The weight of the spindles standing upright against the eyelets is just enough drag that I don't get backspin or pigtails when plying.

These kind of projects, whipped up without complaint, on request, are far better and more thoughtful than flowers! I'm a lucky wife.