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.

Khadi Khanoo

Such a funny yet fun name for a shuttle, The Khadi Khanoo. What a gorgeous shuttle this is in the African Bubinga wood.

It's specially designed to accept a loaded spindle rather than the usual boat shuttle bobbin. This way singles can be woven straight from the charkha spindle rather than being rewound first onto a bobbin. 

I purchased it from NewWorldTextiles.com but apparently they are made by BlusterBayWoodworks.com.

First Cotton Skein

My first skein of handspun cotton. I'm so pleased with the way it turned out.

I filled 3 spindles on the charkha (about .25 oz each), placed them on a charkha spindle lazy kate that my husband is making for me (not quite finished but I got to take it for a test drive), and then plyed them together using my Majacraft LittleGem wheel. 

The resulting skein weighs 20gr (.705 oz) and is approximately 80 yards long. I forgot to measure WPI before skeining it, but it looks to be about a fingering weight. So soft and cuddly! I love it.

A More Colourful Bella

You may recall me introducing Bella a month ago. She's coloured up a lot since then!

And she's still such an incredibly active fish that it's difficult to even video her, let along capture a still from the video.

To jog your memory here's what she looked like on June 18th.

Charkha

The Mahatma Centennial Charkha I ordered from New World Textiles has arrived. Let the play begin!

Spinning cotton on the charkha is much easier than I expected. It will take some time and practice to get good at spinning a consistent thickness and twist, but after watching the basic beginner portion of the "Spinning Cotton on the Charkha" DVD I was able to produce a passable cotton thread. 

Yesterday a friend dropped off a stash of cotton that she is no longer interested in spinning -- 

-- and I also received over a pound of cotton that I ordered. Lots to keep me busy for quite some time!

Guardian of the Blackberries

Out on a walk by the Blue Heron Reserve my granddaughter discovered this beauty while looking for a handful of the first ripe blackberries.

Three For One

I entered 3 hand woven items in the exhibit at the ANWG (Association of Northwest Weaver's Guilds) Convergence 2019 held last month in Prince George and I did far better than I expected. My "What Rubbish" jacket won three different awards!

The awards ribbons from left to right are:

"Other Techniques, Best in Show"

"Recycled Yarn(s)/Fabric(s)"

"Other Techniques, "People's Choice"

Cash prizes were provided by:

The Portland Hand Weaver's Guild, 

The South Cariboo Weaver's Spinner's and Fibre Artists,

and The Shuswap Spinner's and Weaver's Guild

I've decided to use the cash prizes to buy a Mahatma Centennial Charkha and embark on the new adventure of learning to spin cotton. The charkha will be arriving soon, but it may be awhile before the cotton I also ordered arrives.

The members of the Tzouhalem Spinner's and Weaver's Guild did such a beautiful job of the handmade award ribbons that I decided to frame them and display them in my weaving room. 

The awards ribbons from left to right are:

Hand knit from handspun silk.

Tablet woven by hand and beaded.

Handwoven in fine cotton in an intricate pattern.

A big thank you goes out to the many people who worked so hard to make Convergence 2019 a success.

Bloggable Gift

I finished this little set up just before I left for ANWG but I was reluctant to blog about it until the gift was opened by the recipient. It is a "set" of sorts for a grand-nephew. He was born months ago so it won't be long until he is able to wear it. I hope the fit will be okay come fall when the weather is cooler!

The sweater is the "Gingersnap Cardigan", knit using a free pattern by Kristen Rettig. Fun, easy knit!

The hat was from an unrelated pattern, the "Sweet and Simple Baby Hat", a free pattern by Debbie Bodner. To help it better coordinate with the cardigan I added matching stripes and concealed the joins using the technique described in the free "Jogless-Join Stripes Baby Hat" pattern by Larissa Gregorin.

The hat might end up being too small by the time the cardigan fits. It was a bit of a guessing game. I chose a cardigan pattern and a hat pattern that were both for "12 months", but of course head to body proportions may vary! 

The little pants were super fun to create. Using "Jalie 3243" as a starting point I cut the pieces from the "good" sections of my husband's old, cast off, brown denim work shirt. 

I then added layers of patches and a variety of Sashiko stitching and distressed them a little by scrubbing with sandpaper. 

I'm really happy with the way they turned out!

Meet Bella

This active little girl is "Bella". I found her today at PetsMart. I went out specifically looking for a light coloured betta (easier to see in my tank) that had shorter fins. Although longer finned male bettas can be stunningly beautiful they are weighed down by all that finnage and eventually become very sedentary spending most of their time stuck to the filter intake to rest. I wanted a fish that would be active and fun to watch so I was looking for either a plackat male or some sort of light or colourful female.

I've heard that the female fish are more active in general anyway. This little girl, with her white/clear colouring with red and black spots, may carry the marble gene. If that's the case she could colour up very nicely. We'll see. Anyway, she is definitely fulfilling the "active" requirement.

My Walking Buddies

Five days a week I enjoy walking with my buddies. Always the fur-girl on the left. Often the handsome fellow on the right too.

We're extremely fortunate to live in such a beautiful area.

With the perfect mix of sunshine and a little rain the foliage at the Blue Heron Reserve has really closed in! 

Long Necked Patchy

Since I'm bringing three exhibits to ANWG and all three present best on a mannequin, I contacted the organizers to see if they could use more mannequins if I brought them. The answer was "Yes!".

I had one store mannequin of my own, I borrowed another just like it from a fellow guild member, and then asked at a guild meeting for permission to also borrow the one pictured above. The trouble with the one above was that she was in a rather sad state of disrepair. She had some rather large chips missing from the exterior surface and, upon close inspection, I realized that several more spots were about to go as well. It wouldn't be a simple matter of just spray painting her since chunks were flaking away and peeling off.

I decided (with permission) to paper mache over her completely in an attempt to hold her together. Newly completed she's still wet and shiny. She should dry matte.

My husband has commented several times that she looks "vein-y" now. Do you think I should spray paint her? I kind of like her the way she is, sort of rustic looking.

Hardly Rubbish

I'm thrilled with the way this project has turned out. It is not perfect, there are flaws, but I still think it is beautiful. It is also an extremely comfortable and comforting jacket to wear. I love it!

I'm entering the jacket at the 2019 ANWG Conference being held in Prince George, BC, where the theme is "Confluence" and the organizers are encouraging entrants to combine other talents and interests with their weaving. I've chosen to combine my interest in recycling, weaving, sewing, embroidery, and Sashiko (a Japanese form of running stitch embroidery). 

Entrants are required to title their exhibits. I've chosen "What Rubbish" for mine in reference to the recycled denim (strips used in the weaving), recycled bedsheet (used for lining), leftover weaving cotton (used for the Sashiko), and inherited embroidery floss (used for the marigold flowers). All of these materials would usually be thrown away adding to our planet's growing pollution problem. I say, "What rubbish!".