Some of you have met my mother and some of you haven't. For those of you who haven't, just know that my mother is awesome. She's pretty much the entire reason why I am an artist and have such a passion for making things. For as long as I can remember she's almost always has some sort of craft project with her where ever she goes.
Why in particular is my mother awesome this time? Because she gave me yarn from her stash to finish my blanket. Quite a bit, I might add. :)
Definitely excited about finishing it. Mom also helped me figure out that it makes more sense to only use 16 squares for the blanket instead of 25. It would be way too big for a throw if I used 25.
In other news: I finished the shawl I had on my loom. Okay. Loose setts continue to shock me. The entire process of tying on, winding on and weaving this shawl took approximately 4 hours. That's actually probably a high estimate. The weaving part only took an hour and a half. I haven't washed it yet, but here is the result.
I LOOOVE how it turned out. To me, it looks like rich burlap. And I mean that in a good way. It's so wonderfully soft and shiny. :) I am very pleased. Too bad that yarn was a mill end. I'd call Earthguild up right now and get more! (It's like tradition now to stop in Asheville, NC on our way back from SC for Christmas. Mom and I love to stop in at Earthguild and drool over weaving tools, yarn, books and other wonderful fiber related things. We force everyone else (my brother, sister, father and husband) to make the stop just so we can get our fiber fix. :)
I also had a chance to overdye some alpaca/silk I have with Kool-Aid! Here are my results:
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| Before |
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| After! |
I've had this yarn in my stash since...hmm....January?? May? I forget when it was on sale. Anyway, I wanted to do a color and weave scarf with it. It's WONDERFULLY soft. But I only had a half pound of it and only in one color. Of course that was never going to stop me. I truly love Kool Aid dyeing because dyeing a 4 oz. (approx.) skein of yarn took me 6 minutes. Solid shade immersion takes an hour just to dye the stuff and then probably another 20 minutes to rinse out. This had NO rinse out. AT ALL! No dye comes out. Yup. I'm hooked. It makes me want to only use protein fibers for the rest of my life. haha. :) Anyway, just wanted to share what I've been up to. Now I'm off to watch another episode of Hoarders while I sit with my pile of hoarded yarn and knit happily. :D
~JoAnna
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Ahh! I love your shawl. I want to see some pictures on you. What are the dimensions? I am a TOTAL fiber snob. When I go shopping if it costs more then like $40 it HAS to be silk, rayon or wool. I haven't gotten that way with yarn yet because the rug warp I use has polyester in it and I LOVE it. I can't wait to get a stash of yarn that I can koolaid dye!! Yippee!
ReplyDeleteAww--thanks! I am so impressed with the photos you get from that little camera. Beautiful!
ReplyDeleteAllison - Thanks! I looove how it turned out. Width in the reed was 15" (I haven't washed it yet...Still trying to decide how exactly) and the length was 80". I'm shooting for about 13-14" wide and 72" long.
ReplyDeleteOhhh goodness. I'm such a fiber snob!! haha. :) With yarn and fabric. I have this one type of yarn that's acrylic and I love it, but I feel dirty for loving a synthetic yarn. hahaha!