{made} — crochet rock cozy.
On a walk I found this fun rock and crocheted up a hot pink cozy for it. Personal pattern; created it as I went.
{painting} — watercolor with ink illustrations.
“Endless Love” by Jill Cannon
(top image)
9”x 12” watercolor painting with ink illustrations.
“Spring Breeze” by Jill Cannon
(bottom left image)
6”x 6” watercolor painting with ink illustrations.
“Cheer Up” by Jill Cannon
(bottom right image)
4”x 6” watercolor painting with ink illustrations.
These paintings/drawings were done while I was home at my parents during my father’s recovery from brain surgery last year. They are all originals.
{handspun} — Franklin.
I joined my first spin-a-long with Diane who does the Knitabulls podcast and ordered the hand dyed fiber from GnomeAcres. It is 100% Superwash Merino and a 4 oz. bump. The colorway was designed after Diane’s bird, Franklin, which is a girl. We had just over a month to spin and I loved working with this fiber. It was so wonderful to draft and spin… and the color is gorgeous. Amanda, of GnomeAcres, has an unique method of hand dying her fiber, she dyes it while it’s still braided so there is a touch of white in the middle. At first I wasn’t so sure I’d like that, but it really grew on me. The colors blended so well together with that touch of white in there.
I also tried fractal plying for the first time. It is where you take a braid of roving and split it length-wise completely down the middle so you have two ropes that are identical. Spin one as is onto one bobbin, this will result in a very slow color change.
Break the other half of the roving apart length-wise about 4 times (I did once down the middle, and then did each of those halves again, etc.) so you have a lot of skinny ropes. I kept the same colors together at the ends, or mirrored them, for example if it was grey at the end of one of the skinny pieces I joined it to the other grey ended half I just separated. (I hope that makes sense!) It will result in a very quick color change on this bobbin.
Then, I 2-plyed the bobbins together and voilà, delicious looking yarn!
There is also a pretty decent write up on Knitty about fractal plying:
http://www.knitty.com/ISSUEwbis11/KSFEATfractal.php
Here are all the details and how long each took me:
First Bobbin (split half into eights): 5/3/12–5/6/12
Second Bobbin (spun half whole): 5/8/12-5/9/12
2 Ply: 5/10/12-5/11/12
Re-ran through wheel to correct overspin: 5/11/12
Soaked: 5/12/12
Approximately 376 yards
WPI: 17-18 Sport Weight
I have a little bit of one bobbin left that I will Navajo Ply at a later date.
I donated this skein of yarn to an art auction fundraiser I hosted for my parents :) art for Jerry.
{made} — Girly Kitefish Shawl.
Fell in love with this pattern the first time I saw it; just knew I had to make it. Used madelinetosh merino light in Antler and Espadrilles colorways. The details and texture in this pattern were amazing, lots of wrap & turns, but they’re worth it in the end. Also, the unique loop hole is so clever!
{made} — Rustic Ruffle Pillow.
I only crochet the front of the pillow pattern and sewed a fabric back with a slit to allow the removal and washing of the pillow insert. Closed and secured the slit with a button. Whip stitched to attached the fabric to the front of the pillow.
My pillow front kept growing larger and larger as I crocheted… therefore I stopped the last ruffle two rows early. The pillow insert is 16 inches in diameter, the final pillow size is probably around 18 inches.
This was a long overdue mother’s day present for my mom… it took a lot longer than I thought it would (but doesn’t it always!).
{handspun} — Fresh Cut Grass on a Summer’s Day.
This is my first skein of yarn that I’ve spun on my newly acquired spinning wheel! A lendrum single treadle wheel basically fell into my lap and I am so thankful; it is truly something I’m going to love experimenting with. Fiber is my new addiction! So many to try and all the hand dyed fiber is so delicious looking, I can’t resist! :)
Yellow – Sincere Sheep, 100% BFL Wool
Green – High Bid Farm, 100% BFL Wool
2ply… about 13 WPI — 225 Yards
{made} — Catchall Crochet Tray.
Wildfiber yarn shop had a crochet doily swap May 2012 and I wanted to do something a little out of the ordinary for it.
I was inspired by this basket/tray, but wanted it to be much fancier. So, I designed my own version of the pattern and used a homemade starch to stiffen the tray; directions can be found online here.
{made} — Kotori the Owl.
LOVE using my handspun for this cute little owl. I didn’t have safety eyes that were big enough, so found some fun buttons to use instead… think the yellow matches good and I liked their shape.
Pattern can be found here.
{made} — Pearl Necklace.
Crocheted up an adorable little necklace for a birthday present, might be making more of these! I used this pattern, but made the brooch eight pedals instead of six, and put a loop on the back to thread a necklace chain through using a single crochet foundation stitch. The chain also uses a single crochet foundation row with ch 8 in the middle to help hold the petal in the center. I put a metal clasp to close.
{made} — Lu-Lu the bear.
Lu-Lu is a crochet bear for the Mother Bear Project. They are a great organization helping thousands of kids around the world who are affected by HIV/AIDS. People can knit or crochet up a bear, send it in to the project, and they mail them out all over the world. You can purchase the pattern from the Mother Bear Project for 5 dollars, they will mail you a physical copy of the pattern, and you send in your bear with 3 dollars when you are done to help with the cost of shipping them out overseas. We are collecting the bears at the shop, Wildfiber, to send in… she is the first of many I’ll be making.
I used some handspun yarn for the bear, and added a skirt and a little rose flower on the top of the dress to match the ruffle.
