2020 Tour de Fleece

Spinning outside on our first really nice day this summer. Not too hot, not too cold, not too windy, nor raining. The mosquitoes weren't even too bad.

I'm participating in the "Tour de Fleece" this year. For about three weeks spinners spin along, most years while watching the Tour de France bicycle races. The actual races were postponed until August this year but the Tour de Fleece will go ahead now, since for this event social distancing is entirely doable. 

I'm spinning wool and wool blends on my Majacraft Little Gem and cotton on my Mahatma Gandhi Centennial Charkha.  

Maker's Tote

I recently completed this Maker's Tote using Saori fabric I had woven a long time ago and put aside for future consideration since it was so wild I didn't know what to do with it at the time.

While looking for a way to transport an Electric Eel Wheel 6.0 e-spinner to spin-ins I came across a sewing pattern for "The Maker's Tote" by Noodlehead. The fit looked like it would be good so I decided that the time had come to cut into that wild handwoven fabric. 

I already had the handmade bias binding leftover from a project completed several years ago. 

I made an Inkle band with the intent of using it for handles and a cross-body strap. The handles ended up being enough though so I scrapped the idea for a removable cross-body strap that would require additional hardware. 

The wild floral lining, with colours in keeping with the rest of the tote, is from the remainder of a thrifted sheet. I had enough to make the abundant pockets, inside and out.

I did have to buy a sturdy separating zipper for the top closure and also some foam stabilizer to give the bag some structure. 

I'm very happy with the finished bag, but it likely won't be used to carry the e-spinner. I'll use it for knitting instead. I've found a second hand wheeled Zuca bag that will allow me to trundle the e-spinner, all the fibre I need for a day's spinning, and any other stuff I want to take along. The great thing about the Zuca bag is that it can be used as a table to set the e-spinner on once I arrive at my destination.

Lovely Soft Cotton

The organic cotton warp I was working on in March has come to an end. I managed to weave three long table runners each in a different natural handspun cotton. No dyes used! There is Sarepta Brown cotton on the left, natural Acala cotton on the right, and natural green cotton at the bottom.

After washing, the colour transformation in the green was quite remarkable. The punis and storage bobbin below show the natural green as it looks before washing in hot water or soaking for 30 minutes in ammonia. The runner is an example of the "after" wash colouring. 

The runners are all woven to a generous length for either my kitchen table or a couple of display chests I have in the living room.

I'm very happy with the way they turned out.

When the runners were complete I still had some warp left and played around a bit with other weaving techniques including a pick up lace and traveling inlay. 

Joyful Stitching

Turns out painting is not where I will find my JOY, and that's okay as I have plenty of other hobbies that bring me joy and more than fill my available time.

One such hobby is hand embroidery, in particular freeform "Stitch Meditations" like the medallion above. Another hobby I love is weaving in its many forms. The cord for my pendant is a tubular Inkle band I made specifically to use this way. 

Another hobby that I really enjoy is sewing. Yes, this is yet another of the York Pinafores. I think I have six now. I am a woman who not too long ago said I would never wear a dress again. The pinafores are just that easy to make and comfortable to wear and honestly, I don't think of them as a dress, but more of a butt cover when wearing leggings. 

The painting? No, you won't be seeing any more of that. It's a wonderful course, especially for free, but I had a bit of an epiphany yesterday. I don't like painting! I don't like getting dirty. I don't like having to clean up the mess afterwards (and whoooo boy do I make a mess!). All in all, with only one life to live, I'd rather spend my time doing any one of my other numerous hobbies.

Imagery Is Not My Joy

I decided to share this even though I'm not satisfied with it and will eventually scrap it and use the canvas for something else.

I learned something struggling with this. I learned that although I do enjoy playing with paint, actually trying to capture even a vague image of some sort pulls me right out of my joy. And yet, without at least a vague image, my attempts at abstract come out looking like lovely wrapping paper.

I'm not sure now how I will proceed with the remainder of the "Finding Your Joy" course. I am committed to doing all of the assignments. I think there are two or three more. But after that I may abandon paint altogether and go back to my fibre arts corner of the world to lick my wounds.

Painting in a Saori Way

My favourite section of the fun exercise assignment for today in Louise Fletcher's "Find Your Joy Free Taster 2020".

The basic assignment was to choose any 3 colours, along with black and white. The instructions were to use a large piece of paper taped off into smaller sections and for no longer than 30 minutes paint the entire page as a whole, using whatever tools we wished and disregarding the sections. 

The photo above is what I had done in the 30 minutes. I used bubble wrap, two sizes of paint brushes, a scrub brush, a toothbrush, a piece of plastic canvas, a folded piece of card stock, and the end of a large dowel.

We were then instructed to pull off the tape and photograph the work to share in the group. 

Here is a look at the other five sections close up. 

I saw similarities between my Saori weaving and my painting exercise. 

Both show my attraction to colour and texture.

I'd love for you to see what the other (over 6,000!) group members came up with in this assignment but it's a private Facebook group just for those who enrolled. 

Such variety has come from the same basic instructions, and I can see something to admire in everyone's efforts.

Mark Making

As if I don't have enough hobbies to keep me busy. I've joined in on a free online Facebook mini course lasting only 8 days. "Find Your Joy Free Taster 2020", with Louise Fletcher.

The course doesn't start until Monday but we've been invited to play around with paint and other media, just having fun. I'm not much at sketching, have very little success with achieving realism, so today I just played with colour, texture, and mark making.

Circular Weaving

I've been working for the past week or so on a very large circular weaving.

It's 35.5" in diameter, woven on a brass ring from what must have been a huge chandelier.

I really like most of it, but I'm having doubts about the outer edges. I don't really care for the natural coloured roving towards the rim, but the space is awkward to fill and it is all I had. A darker beige would have been better I think.

I liked the weaving more at an earlier stage, shown below.

Or perhaps even before that, when it was less busy looking and was more about the texture.



But leaving so much of the warp showing also seemed wrong?

More Sewing Than Blogging

There has been sewing, 

--- just not a whole lot of blogging about it.

A while back I discovered the "York Pinafore" by Helen's Closet. I used some upcycled, off white, light canvas curtain fabric for a test of the pattern.

--- and liked the pattern so much I went on to make three more in rapid succession. 

The style ticks a lot of boxes for me. It's comfortable, it has handy big pockets, it's not clingy, and by varying what is worn under it it can span all four seasons.

Seven Months Early

It's either seven months early or many years late. I finally finished the Bucilla applique kit, "Cookies and Candy Wreath".

Although it's ready in plenty of time for Christmas 2020, I actually purchased the kit on sale many, many years ago and didn't work on it until I came across it when I was cleaning and organizing my weaving room and decided --

--- that it was now or never! I would either get it made or give it away.

I chose to make it and I'm glad I did. It's quite cute and it was fun to make.

Sugarless But Sweet

These cookies won't cause me to gain any weight. 

The cupcakes are sweet but calorie free too.



A couple of handfuls of sugar free candy ---

And a few candy canes to add to the collection.

And then I was hit with the very vague direction to "fasten to the wreath as shown in the photo". No how to at all. I'll be back tomorrow with the finished wreath to show you how that came out. 

Welcoming a Wee Neighbour

We had a wee neighbour arrive a week or so ago, two and a half weeks before she was due.

It's time for me to deliver the little sweater set I made in anticipation of her arrival, though there is no fear of her growing out of the set before I have a chance to give the gift. 

It's a 12 month size, but it will likely be even longer than that before it fits.

The patterns are "Gingersnap Cardigan", and "Sweet and Simple Baby Hat" and I knit them in "Universal Yarn Uptown Worsted".

101 Sheep

Having missed out on 2 big fibre related events, and more cancellations coming in yet because of the mandated social distancing, I decided to buy an online course to learn "Turned Krokbragd on an Inkle". I'm very pleased with the course. I was not only guided step by step through the setting up and weaving of an interesting technique, but I also picked up several tips that will be helpful weaving any sort of bands.

I'm pleased about that, since I've been on a bit of a band weaving kick lately. Here's some of the regular, plain weave bands I've woven lately. These were all woven on the wee "Ukulele" I purchased from Windhaven Fiber and Tools. Windhaven makes such great Inkle looms and tools that they have a hard time keeping up to demand! They are well worth the wait.

I had to drag out an older, clunkier Ashford inkle to learn the Turned Krokbragd on though. There isn't enough room up front on mini Inkles to work around the supplemental heddles that must be used for the technique. 

The sheep band, done in "Rainbow" brand 8/4 cotton, is about 1" in width and I finished with 101 sheep. Not sure what I'll use this band for. It was just for practice. The narrower, 15mm bands I'm weaving on my Windhaven Ukulele will be used to make bracelet attachments that will hold my medic alert information.

Speck

Not what he was 25 days ago, perhaps not yet fully what he will become.

Most of the colour change has happened in the last 5 days! Every day he looks a little different. I'm wondering if his head will eventually be predominately black too.

Unusual Heirloom

This is not what you might expect a cherished heirloom to look like.

Of the things left to me by relatives, my mother's waffle iron is one of the most cherished. It may not sparkle like the crystal collection, or be of great monetary value, but it carries the most memories and has earned the space it takes in my kitchen. 

When I was a child mom always made either waffles, pancakes, or french toast for Sunday breakfast. This "Sunbeam Radiant Control Waffle Baker & Grill", with interchangeable cooking surfaces, did them all. It has continued to receive regular use for over 60 years! The manual/recipe pamphlet has accompanied it and has a copyright dating 1954.  

When mom gave it to me a few decades ago I was thrilled. I wish appliances were still made to be such good performers and so reliable. The thermostat and "easy to see signal light" still work for goodness sakes! 

Modern appliances with their built in obsolescence just can't compare to these old timers that keep on going and going and going. If you ask me, a great deal of the trash in the world is the direct result of things not being made like they used to should be.