I am hoping that this blog will help you and me experience the craft of crochet as well as knitting. During times of silence or turmoil, crochet and knitting continuously help me quiet my mind at my own pace, enabling me to find my center. I am also sharing my SECRET persona, Lt. DAX, my life in code while living in Bajor. Maybe fiction maybe not is up to you to decide. Peldor Joi!!!
Tuesday, May 31, 2011
Alpaca Fibers for me
The picture below is the one Alpaca fiber that is rare to find, and I was lucky to find it on EBay. I am a bit quiet because I am designing for a company that wants to carry some of my hat patterns under their name, and Crafty Andy is very busy making hats , testing hats and creating hats. I had a Writer's Block for about 3 months and few days ago while I was chanting I go the answer I was in search of. Thank You Universe for allowing me to remove the obstacles. So to a happy end in May 2011, they World did not end, but even if it did , I would have been busy doing something. I am not the type of going crazy if the world is going to end, some day it will, but not because of what people think. Sometimes I wonder if they are talking about the God from the Bible or a God from one of those TV or Movies I have seen. Those vengeful Gods that only get happy when you sacrifice virgins on an altar. I will leave it at that. Thanks for stopping by!
Friday, May 27, 2011
Homespun Alpaca Yarn
This was a fun project to do on the wheel. My Kromski Sonata still making yarn after the fix with the Gorilla Glue. I am always afraid it will com apart, but now I have options to repair that I did not have before. I will have to say that I am looking at Lendrums a lot and will be probably sit down on one some day and see wat it feels like. I have seen a lot of great reviews on Lendrums. I was also looking at the Side Kick from Schacht it looks very intriguing again I will have to sit down and give it a spin sometime. I guess I was not satisfied with the "New Voyager" note that it only happened to another person, they changed the manufacturing, and on and on I really felt left out in the cold. I will leave it at that for now.
Sunday, May 22, 2011
iDye my Yarns please
I then decided to use more food coloring and enhanced the purple with neon purple. I used vinegar to help the binding of the color to the wool and some grape flavored kool aid, because I could not resist. I like kool aid for yarn dyeing a lot. So while the world was going to end, I decided to go chemical and dye yarn, the result of the chemical experiment is below, the black was definitely adding Rit to the mixture, the middle skein is more or less the color of the iDye with Fisherman's wool, I guess it would have been a lot darker, but I did not chance it. The purplish was a fun yarn to dye, with the colors I chose, there was no Rit black involved at all, just the iDye , kool aid, and neon purple. This was such fun and the world did not end, the GODS were pleased with my yarn and so was I.
This was the color I started with, with a soaking of the yarn in warm water and vinegar. Lion Brand yarns is one of my favorites to dye and over dye. Thanks for stopping by there is more to come!
Saturday, May 21, 2011
Zinio and Knitter's Magazine
Thursday, May 19, 2011
Poseidon's Dream
I call this colorway arenas, Spanish for sands. It is so pretty and it is fuzzy as I thought it would be. This was such a fun project in spinning. I am very proud of myself as there were like half a yard left of a single in one of the bobbins, the rest was actually completrly spun and used without much loss. I would definitely make more Art Yarn like this one. It was a great learning experience and a lot of fibers included. It is rich in texture and it feels fantatic. Maybe it will be for sale in a store near you or online, I have not decided yet. Is about a60 grams and about 204 yards. Stay tuned there will be some Alpaca spinning soon. Thanks for stopping by.
Tuesday, May 17, 2011
Yarn Art
Sunday, May 15, 2011
Alpaca Carding Sunday
Just a lazy Sunday and trying to get some of the last alpaca fiber that a friend gave me into rolags. My hope is to spin some more and make a nice blanket afghan like the North American Afghan, but using alpaca colors. Thanks for stopping by!
Saturday, May 14, 2011
Bamboo with a Twist
Friday, May 13, 2011
Bamboo a review in fiber
A while ago , like almost a year ago , I ordered some sample fibers to see what I wanted to spin. What you see below is the regular bamboo spun on the fast flyer of my Sonata. I have to disagree with people that say that bamboo behaves like silk. I did not find that to be the case when I spun my bamboo. It is a bit slippery and it blooms like silk in a way. I did try to wet my fingers to grab the fiber, which it helps in the spinning , but is not the best thing to do. I spun it from the fold, that seemed to be the easiest way to spin it, but I also had a long thin piece of roving and was doing a worsted spinning with this fiber. I think I would love to spin a wool-bamboo blend, or maybe a bamboo-silk blend, but bamboo by itself is not something that I care to spin from the get go. Perhaps a chance to fall in love with bamboo is in the future, if it is the only fiber I spin, I know I can master it. Nevertheless, Bamboo by itself as yarn is not very attractive to me, in blends I go gaga over it, well not lady Ga Ga, but you get my point. Bamboo is something that I would definitely spin on a drop spindle, rather than a wheel, it is almost like the camel down which I rather spin on a spindle as well. I will have to see how this project ends when I research how to set the twist on bamboo. It is a good candidate for Navajo plying or perhaps to be the third ply in a 3 ply yarn. Maybe I can make a tweed looking yarn with the other bamboo that I am showing you below.
Here this black looking single is a carbonized bamboo single. I have seen yarns with this material and not all of them are black , I saw a brownish type, which I am sure can be overdyed and give you some heathery colors. The black fiber below, behaved a bit more like wool. It was grabby and drafted very nice. I enjoyed spinning the carbonized bamboo a lot, and will continue to do so. I may just finish the project and then ply these two guys together and see what comes out of it. I hope this posting helps you in getting to know bamboo fiber-roving. There is a milk roving that will be my next in line, and that I know I can dye like wool. Thanks for stopping by!
Wednesday, May 11, 2011
Just in Case Our World does not End!
I guess I just think different. Be nice because you want to be nice, not because you will go to heaven. If the God of the Bible is all knowing He knows what is truly in your heart . People see in the Bible what they want to see and they read what they want to read. I don't think the Bible was written with such elasticity, but maybe it was. as a friend said one time, the Bible says is ok to have slaves from some bordering nations, why don't we do that today? My point is that Religion is a basic human right and need. Nobody can deny there is something beyond us that seems to make this Chaotic Universe work in some kind of chaotic order, yet an order none the less.
Whether the world ends today or ends in my lifetime or not, I choose to live life passionately and with kindness. I won't allow bigotry of any kind . I guess to ask people to pray for the happiness of all mankind and all living things is too much to ask, but give it a try next time you are ready to complain. Sometimes we have to complain, it is in our nature, but what is more important is that we don't stop loving and living. People will always talk about you, and thank them for that, otherwise you are ignored or insignificant. In the end who cares what they say about you, only you know the real truth about who you are and what you are. Only you know what it is to walk in your shoes.
There are Basic Universal Rights and and in my opinion they are not found in any book on this planet, but they are universal.Is my opinion and not necessarily meant to make any religious believes not true. I guess I am trying to be pragmatic and agreeing to disagree with many or some. Like the freedom of expression, the freedom to worship, the right to clean air and water, the right to medicines and healthcare for all no matter how evil or good you are, how rich or poor. Is not socialism to give everyone the medication they need or the medical care they require, it is humanistic necessary and compassionately human. I think that Religion is misused by people that want to control and want to have power over other people. They are as power hungry as the politicians, don't fool yourself. So to close this note, be kind to each other, and maybe we will discover the real meaning of life or maybe not. One thing is for sure any Religion that Claims to hold the Only truth is a Religion to be skeptical about. Since I don't like to live in fear, I choose to live life to the fullest and be a nice person , as nice as I can muster that is, yep we all have limitations lol. I encourage you to look for similarities and things in common with other people and to work for global justice. Be kind to the planet there is definitely no Stargate that we know available for the Exodus of Mankind. The Cylons are not coming to get us, and we all have to go through the cycles of birth, life, sickness and death, make your life a success live with honor. Thanks for stopping by!
Tuesday, May 10, 2011
The Borg are Here
This Mission has been accomplished the Borg yarn is finished. This is definitely Borg Green for my dearest of friends the Borg. It is done and hand dyed with the technology of Kool Aid and Food coloring, the Borg will have a bit of an upset stomach. It is a targhee/clun Forest blend. It was a project that section 31 engaged me about. Let the Tongo wheel spin and spin. Thanks for stopping by!
Sunday, May 08, 2011
Kromski Sonata Screw Nut Knob No. 2
I had the problem like some of you with the Screw Nut from my Sonata that holds the Mother of all. This is a shortcoming of their thinking and thus their craftsmanship suffers. I would glue this sucker in place. The first time it came loose I freaked out, lol, but I fixed it back into place. My wheel is less than 1.5 years old, maybe two at max. I use it with care and I treat it with lots of care and respect. It has given me a lot of pleasure and entertainment. Without being able to hold the Mother of All in place, you , I CAN NOT SPIN. The wheel becomes an expensive piece of wood.
Thursday, May 05, 2011
Cardigan Seams and Sleeves Start
I finally got this cardigan joint at the shoulder seam. I guess if I was making this again I would have left the stitches live and join them in some kind of grafting. I am not super happy with it, but I can live with the results until I get it assembled completely and then do like a duplicate stitch kind of touch up at the seam on the shoulder. Is not really crucial, I can live with it, but this is so much cable work that it would be a shame to not really make it more beautiful , ha, ha, ha.
Today I did the cast on of the the two sleeves, I have a feeling that I will need to improvise in this pattern and make a gusset for the sleeves, but it is too early for me to think about that. I have not made that many sweaters or Cardigans to say that I have the experience that tells me it will fit. We shall see once the sleeves are done. Thanks for stopping by.
Monday, May 02, 2011
May WIP Cardigan
I will tell you that being able to pick up a pattern after being sitting down for a while is amazing to me. I think what is also amazing is to get motivated to continue, the pattern is exciting I can tell you that much. So this is what I am working on today along with the Retro Caprican which is a mindless knitting. One of the good things about having circular needles is that I will be making the two sleeves of both sweater and cardigan at the same time, making for as even as possible knitting and even as possible in length. My commitement to de-stash is going on as scheduled. I am hoping to have some natural dyeing for next month and have some instructional videos to share with you and my Ravelry Group. Thanks for stopping by!
Almost two years without blogging August 2020
Life can be a bowl of strawberries when cheries are not available. It has been almost two years since I have been in this blog. I have s...
-
An easy to make Circular Needle Organizer, Thanks for stopping by!
-
The Prisoner of Azkaban Hogwarts scarves are very different from the old scarves where egalitarian stripes where the norm. I have created a...
-
Well I am doing this in a public way , because I found at least four people that have been hit with this. The headline was "Credit Card...