Fibre Ropes

Hi Everyone

I have good and bad news today ! If you visited yesterday, you will know I was working on fibre jewellery and more specifically making fibre ropes. The good news is that I've developed a great preparation process for making good quality ropes, consistent in shape and strength. The bad news is - I didn't get the three stranded pieces completed and have changed my mind again re the fastening - such is the life of a Maker ! However, I've got a plan. 

I'm going to develop a series of thinner ropes for the stranded versions and will use the versions from yesterday as a layered necklace, wearing individual necklaces in various colour combinations - together. I think the layered approach will allow for more versatility re necklaces colours and will form more of a statement piece.

My breakthrough came with the preparation of the fibre ropes. Previously, I had simply rolled the ropes into shape from layers of fine merino wool. This approach is fine but doesn't always (easily) give a uniform rope. In my new approach, I used a blending board to construct rolags and then developed the ropes in the usual way from the rolags ie using soap and hot water to wet the wool and then rolling inside a sushi mat.

                    

My photo story shows the series of steps taken to develop the ropes. I need to experiment a little more with sizes. The rolag is developed on a 12x12ins. blending board and the final rolled rope is about 24ins. long. The final length has something to do with the amount of wool on the board as well as how tightly the rolags are wound. I'd like to be more informed about these factors to design the right size roped for my stranded necklaces. Also - at this stage, I'd like to stick with the metal clasps (see yesterday's example) for closing the necklace rather than using my initial press stud option. I will report further on my experiments next week.

Thanks for calling in today. Have a great weekend.

Fibre Jewels - next phase

Hi Everyone

Today, I'm developing my Fibre Jewels Project into a new Making Workshop. I've already made a couple of pieces, a necklace and a bracelet (read back here for details on the initial project). These pieces are complete with their fastenings and beads in place.

The next fibre jewel phase will develop new colour combinations as well as multiple rope designs. I'd like to try and create a three strand necklace and bracelet version. The fibre element will be quite straightforward, it's the fastening which presents more of a design challenge.

I've seen a press stud fastening idea which I think could work well - so, this is my first solution for the multiple strand pieces. Wish me luck.

Here's a quick reminder of the first Fibre Jewels results :

                    

I'll share the results of this next phase along with the initial finished pieces tomorrow. I haven't decided on colour combinations yet. I'm going to look in my wardrobe to try and develop something which will compliment a few outfits. I think a gradient colour combination may work for me.

Thanks for calling in today.

Socks Update

Hi Everyone

Today, I'm celebrating finishing (the knit part) of my latest sock project. These socks are using the yarn from Edinburgh Yarn Festival (last month) read about it here.

The finished socks are for my lovely husband and will always remind me of Edinburgh and the great day we had (celebrating my birthday too). I've named them the Edinburgh Socks !

                       

I've yet to weave in the ends and block the socks. Hopefully, will do that later today - lots of ends to weave in !  They are lovely and soft and the yarn (Socks Yeah - CoopKnits) was a dream to knit with. I even made my way through the dreaded (to me) Kitchenor stitch closure without too much trauma ! The sock pattern is a very simple plain sock, I wanted the stripes to 'pop' and be the main feature of the design. I knitted both pairs at the same time but on seperate needles using Magic Loop. I did start knitting both socks on one needle but I find the stitch management a bit annoying. I like the idea of separating the sock construction parts and knitting each section and then moving onto the next. This approach eliminates the second sock syndrome and helps make identical socks.

So, my next sock project is already planned. I like to have a pair of sock 'on the go' at all times ! I'm going to make Om Shanti by Alice Yu. These socks are quite a short sock with a lovely texture pattern. They also have an interesting cuff - corrugated rib and a beautiful heel (more detail when an get there). These socks will be for me.

I'm going to dye some yarn for this job. I've not decided which colour I'm going for ? I will spend the day pondering that one. My favoured colour at the moment is a Moss Green/Blue blend, a light blue. I'll let you know how things turn out.

Thanks for calling in today.

Spindrift Shawl

Hi Everyone

I'm excited to share the progress of my latest knit project. I'm knitting the Spindrift Shawl by Helen Stewart and enjoying every stitch. The pattern is very easy to follow and alongside every row, Helen gives the total number of stitches for each row. I love this detail. Having a stitch count throughout is reinforcing at each stage, where I am in the pattern as well as confirming I'm actually following the pattern (something I tend to find challenging with almost all patterns).

I'm also thrilled with how the yarn is knitting up. My photo isn't giving a true colour - there's much more of a green/teal look going on.

               

This dye job was an experiment, I wanted to create something which would compliment denim as well as a range of blue/green pieces of clothing in my wardrobe. I'm using the new dye's from my visit to Wingham Wools last week (read back yesterday for more on this). I think the colours work beautifully and each row of the shawl delivers little speckles of moss green, mustard and a dark teal colour - such a joy to enjoy the yarn. It's probably the first time I've felt like this about one of my dyed yarns, although, I did create a red combination a little while back which I knitted up into the Neck Candy scarf. The red, grey, mustard combination was quite pleasing at the time.

                                

Getting back to Spindrift, I'm just through 40% of the Spindrift knit and feel as if I've just started. The shawl has a lovely deep lace border which is something I'm very much looking forward to trying.

                 

I will share my shawl when finished - I'm not entirely sure where this will be ? but I'm thinking it will be quite soon.

Thanks for calling in today.

Fibre Shopping

Hi Everyone

It's a 'back to work' day today ! I always struggle to get into my work mode following a holiday. My usual tack is to have a slow start and a VERY short list of things to do. I'm working on that approach today. So, not much going on for me.

However, on reflection, I've had a lovely Easter break - very quiet and mostly lots of sitting around making things. We've also had some good family time and one very exciting shopping trip ! 

Last Friday, I visited Wingham Wools (you can find them online here). They live in a smallish village in Yorkshire and have the most amazing selection of fibre related things. Lots and lots of different fibres as well as spinning tools, fibre dyes, books and much more. It's a great place to explore, I could hardly contain myself. The problem was - what to buy ? It was quite difficult to stop seeing things to buy, in the end, I eventually came away with a great selection of things. Under the circumstances, I thought I was very restrained.

                         

I was mesmerised by the range of merino colours. Lots of single colours in a rainbow of shades in a large shed and another shed with more merino in some lovely blended combinations - with a few bargain bags. My particular favourite colours (at the moment) are navy and mustard so I was especially pleased with 200gms of merino. I also chose a bag of mixed blended merino (another 200gms). I wanted to look for some unusual fibres when I saw the range of sample bags and eventually chose Crab Top - how how is that possible ? and Banana Fibre as well as Camel. I'm not quite sure what I will do with these fibres ? - some kind of blending ?

My final purchase was a selection of dyes. These are a lovely range of colours, mustard, navy and green in beautiful natural shades. I've used the dyes already in a little project (will share the results tomorrow).

My job today is to find projects for each of my new fibres - I'm already there with the navy and mustard merino but not sure about the other stuff. I probably need to review my whole current fibre stash and make some plans.

Thanks for calling in today.