Old Forge 2014 Gifted

We can do it!  This is a funny take on Jodie the Riveter, nevertheless it shows that we men can do things as well as women,lol.  Sometimes in the middle of life  gender and crafts cross, back and forth.  This is my second Old Forge by Stephen West.  I ordered the yarn from, Beaverslide Dry Goods again.  It is from Montana and I love it.  One of the things I like about this yarn is the fact that is two ply.  One of the plies is without knots, but the second has some.  It is so fantastic and easy to fuse the yarn and they disappear.  They don't make this heavy duty knots that are impossible to fuse.  I say I will continue buying this yarn in the near future. 

The green that you see is not from them, I actually had to custom dye the yarn for the people I am gifting this blanket.  I was going to anyway, it did not matter which yarn I bought, dyeing was going to be included in the gift, lol.  It goes perfect with their decor.  They were the people that were kind enough to let us house sit while our flat was being remodeled.  I told the lady of the house that I was going to make them this blanket.  She said I did not have to, but I know they will appreciate it.  We took care of their kitty Mona and had a very sane flat remodeling without losing our minds.  This is all for today, but there is more for tomorrow. Thanks for stopping by!

 

Superwash Wool Baby Set

 

I liked the pattern that I got , is the Almost Instant Baby Cardigan.  It calls for Malabrigo Rasta, I decided to follow the LYS Owner suggestion and go with Superwash wool. I did not like the way the cardigan looks after I blocked it.  The picture above is unblocked.  Once this cardigan was wet, it kind of got very crazy, is all I can say.  No problems because I have yarn left and I will be crocheting an edge and border around the neck .  It needs it, it looks too sleazy, well you know loose.  A crochet border will make this cardigan have a bit more form and will make it a bit more sturdy.  I will also make a crochet border on the sleeves.  The Cable Cast on , looks fantastic, I am not messing around with that lol.

I wonder what will happen if I make it in cotton?  Definitely a crochet edge to hide the ends.  One thing I did was to get the rest of the yarn wet like the project.  Why?  Because it will have the same texture as the already blocked yarn.  This particular Superwash bulky yarn, from Cascade, when it is wet, looses it's form.  Not really criticizing it, just stating a fact.  I hope you have a great weekend and I will have more to post later during the weekend and is not fiber related..  Thanks for stopping by.

The Medici Hat by Woolly Wormhead

One of my first designers to test my hat making abilities was Woolly Wormhead.  This designer without a doubt had the best hats in the world.  The were made on the flat and then kitchener together. I got myself into plenty of trouble, but I learned a lot about making hats.

Here are different views with my cool Kilt socks on of the Medici hat.

The link will direct you to the purchase option, it is a fun hat to be made.  I went with dk weight yarn, double strands and it took 95 grams or two skeins.  I opted to go a needle size down and made the smaller size hat.  It has a beautiful cable cast on , and lovely twisted stitches. Thanks for stopping by!

 

Wollmeise Yarn

If you google Wollemeise you will get lots of things wool, but this yarn is unlike anything out there. At 575 yards per skein you are definitely sure to get enough yarn for a pair of man socks. If you live in Europe it is easy to get, here is a bit more complicated, but not impossible, yet requires lots of patience and being fast.

The supply and demand for this yarn is insane. Beware, there are people on EBay that will scalp you for this yarns and charge you exorbitant amounts of money. How much? A skein of Wollmeisse goes for about $ 25, on Ebay the start bidding anywhere from 34 to $ 100. There is no need for that. You can get your stuff, is just nothing that you are going to need right away, because by the time that you get your online cart to pay for your purchases, you may have an empty cart. What? Yep I had 5 items and ended with just one, the Blue Curacao.
The yarn comes in this fancy bags. Is like you have this special package and you really feel special. You get a wool wash for your yarn and the yarn is really out of this world.
The yarn above and the 3 yarns below are easier to get, because they are misfits. They are called WD we are different and the Blau is the Blues, light and not so light, the Kunterbunt was the Navy blue
and the cocoa brown

If you get to the website and have something in your cart that you really like, they say buy two. I would have definitely wanted to buy two, but still may use the two similar blues for a personal project , I should have gotten two lol.

The colors are fantastic and these are just the semi solid or pretty much solids.  Some of the most exquisite variegated yarns , is a real lottery to get, but I Will get some, it's just a matter of time.  In the meantime I am working on other projects, so I am quiet, but hope to bring you an update every week on the things I am doing. Oh there is a contest and a friend  who helps me test the patterns is helping me test the pattern.  I hope I win, and that everyone wins like last year, but that is a topic for another blog entry later this week.

Believe it or not this is one of my favorite yarns.  The quality of the yarn is impeccable, the availability is another storey, so like I said, buy two when you have the chance. Wollmeise is yarn that will grow on you and that you will learn to appreciate in your socks, your shawls, scarves and hats.  Let me tell you before I go, I saw some wonderful weaved projects with the variegated yarns from Wollemeise and they are out of this world,  I may have to roll a hard six on that one soon. Thanks for stopping by!

Old Forge 95% done

I just wanted to share the picture of the Old Forge as I am working on the blanket.  I will have a full review and report about the journey of this blanket in the next posting as it is finished. Thanks for stopping by!

Natural wool A short Story

The Skeins of yarn from Beaverslide have some manufacturer's knots on them, but not a big deal. It actually irritates me a lot, but it talks to the fact that the yarn is manufacture less mechanical than not. The knots are kind of soft knotted, so you can open up the knot easily.YOU can fuse your wool in few simple steps. I am hoping a set of pictures is worth a thousand words.


You get some water, unless you want to spit fuse.
You look at the yarn that needs to be fused, there is a knot, you undo it.
it may look like this or completely two separate yarn ends to fuse.
You then put it in the water like this.
 
Now your yarn is wet and you set the ends on your yarn almost ready for fusing.
You rub the yarn between the palm of your hands briskly.
 Presto your yarn is safely fused.
 
I hope the pictures were worth a thousand words. Thanks for stopping by!

Tweeds from Caprica

Thanks for indulging me in my Battlestar Infusion of names.  I loved the Series and have gotten a lot of inspiration from it's actors and writers.  This is my idea of a pretty tweed.  At 155 yards and 130 grams.  I could have made it more even, but I like the way it looks  as homespun and not very even.  A while ago I bought some samplers of different wools so that I can try and see which I liked the best.  It is so difficult. I guess Alpaca is so simple to choose, the Suri so soft and beautiful, yet any alpaca fiber is great to spin.  Sheep wool is a different story, there are so many breeds and so different from one another, some are wiry , some are like cotton candy, some like a soft Brillo pad, some like spinning a cloud, all of them worthy of your time to test them.  I can now  confidently buy some fiber knowing what to expect from what I have spun.  I still have some other fibers to spin, some targhee and some alpaca, and even mohair.  Thanks for stopping by!

Rebellion Mittens

The mittens are finished, and even though is not the easiest of patterns I accomplished my desire to spin yarn and make these mittens. I used less than 125 grams or  112 yards of material.  The glove on the right has been blocked and is very soft, the one on the left is the one I finished today and definitely very rough.  This pattern is from Harry Wells aka the Knitting Ninja and I would recommend it for experienced knitters.  It is a bit confusing , but worth the time in making the mitts.  I did change the termination of the fingers as I don not like 1 by 1 rib on the fingers.  Thanks for stopping by.

Double Stranded Weaving

So what do you know about weaving?  All I know is that I know nothing.  I am playing along, playing around and having fun.  Here I have two colors  and I am working with them at the same time, twisting them as I return on the other movement of the shuttle.  In these pictures you will see the different ways I am playing with two strands of colors.

On some of the rows the browns are double, then the orange, but that is using two strands as weft and utilizing  a single warp.  I alternated colors , then I didn't.  What I found is how much fun can weaving be when you are just making  cloth.

I am all about texture and my hats are always an inspiration after I made them.  Some people don't realize that I make my hats out of the blue, the ideas come from the ethers and then I usually reverse engineer the pattern, which usually comes out a bit different than the original pattern.  I am going to transform weaving as well, I want to inspire you to play with making fabric.

The picture below is a bag that I am working on, I am remaking the bag with the cloth I am making.  The pictures at the beginning of this posting is what I am going to use for the sides of the bags, then I am going to create more cloth for some fun handle coverings for this bag.  What is exciting to me is that I have discovered double strand weaving without reading about it or being taught.  These are the discoveries that I treasure.  This is Crafty Andy in his creative endeavor toward understanding the potential that weaving has for me.  I am in a new Fiber Journey and I will take you along with me.  Thanks for stopping by!

Tauron Traveler Hat

This hat is to be made on Aran Weight or DK weight and I went with Cascade ecological wool which is considered a Bulky yarn. Dropped down to US 6 and had to skip some rows. The name of the Pattern is Flintshire and is a Ravelry Pattern for sale.by Ashley Knowlton .

I went by the numbers until row 31 the every other row until row 51,( I did just the odd numbers), I did do line 36 and 52, then did as the pattern suggested.

The result was a perfectly shaped hat, and very soft. I am hoping to make another one in DK weight with some Baby Alpaca with a Twist that I have. Thanks for stopping by!

A Fall Beret and a Chair

I have always loved hats, even when I had lots of hair.  There is something about a hat that is intriguing or even sexy.  It covers your head so it is a hair replacement in my opinion, lol.  A hat is also a protection against the elements.  This Beret is the MOSS STITCH BERET by Kent Turman.  The pattern is fantastic and my favorite part is that it has a beautiful fold.  I started the provisional cast-on with a crochet cast on, then when I was ready to have the live stitches, I pick them up with a circular needle and I knit the fold together as I went along one stitch from each edge.  I started with dpns, then when I was getting close to finish the brim, I switched to two circular needles.

I like this pattern because this beret is very versatile and can be adjusted easily.  It calls for US 3 when you begin then you switch to US7, but I know how  I knit , that would not have worked.  As Elizabeth Zimmerman would say, the stitches after the brim would have been sleazy if I did not use US 6 instead.

This pattern is not demanding, but you do have to pay attention to your knitting.  A person gives you  a pattern to follow, but you are responsible to make adjustments as needed. I ended using US 3 as I was about 4 rows away from finishing the crown as I wanted a very tight top, the little I-Cord stub was done with the US3.

The Beret is very soft due to the use of the Kid-Silk mohair strand along with the superwash Cascade Merino.  I am hoping to make more Berets in the near future.  This was a very quick knit , less than two days, I guess I am a quick knitter some times.  When you shave your head or have no hair for whatever reason, a soft hat like this one is a sensual indulgence.  I was very happy with the way it turned out and with my photographic adventure.  I could have done a bit more to make the photographs more Catalog, but hey I have to get ready for my trip to LambTown tomorrow.  There will be pictures and maybe I will get some yarn, we shall see.  I hope you enjoy the pictures and the Beret and if you are not on Ravelry, go and sign up, it is a fantastic resource for knitters, crocheters, spinners and weavers. Thanks for stopping by!

Colonial Cell Caddy

CCCC
Originally uploaded by Crafty Andy

This is not all the yarn that I will be using, I will be using a wool-mohair combo that I homespun before. I will be overdyeing the silk - wool blend with some cherry Kool Aid so that it is Cylon Worthy and in combination with the cylon colors. My old caddy has seen a better day and I am in need of making a new caddy for my communications device aka Cell phone. I am actually trying to make it full a bit by agitating it. Anyway this is a quick crochet project, I hope to be done by the end of the day and have pictures of the dry FO tomorrow or so. Below is the wool-mohair combo I will be using to make this project a better fit for this covert COlonial Mission.  Thanks for stopping by.

Spinning to Dye

Spinning and Dyeing are lots of fun, specially if you are dyeing with Kool Aid.  The First Picture that you see is 100% silk roving turned into yarn and dyed with grape flavor Kool Aid. Even though is food coloring you need to be careful and wear a mask.  Kool Aid is not meant to be aspired lol!

This other blend that you see above is a combination of silk and wool.  The silk is the shinny yarn ply.  The other ply was plain wool and it was red, so over dyeing it with the grape color was a no problem situation.

Here you have a blend of 50/50 Camel - Silk, it was first dyed with some natural dye, but let me tell you that I did not like the way the carded this roving.  It did not look blended and it was not blended. There is nothing wrong with that, but it is a choice and one I am not going to be making in the future.  The fiber felt gummy and tacky to the hands as I was trying to spin.  I spun some on the spindles , then I spun the rest on the wheel.  I over dyed this with the grape kool aid and some of it turned dark brown and some has a purplish hue, deeper than before, but the yarn is not soft, maybe after I condition it with hair conditioner , it may change. Long story short it was a waste of my money, but I learned that whenever I see this kind of mixture that feels like this one did, not to buy at all.

This was mixture of blue Kool Aid ply with a white ply, regular wool, corriedale by the way.  I wanted to see how Lemonade yellow Kool Aid will over dye the blue and what would happen to the white.  No surprises there.  I really enjoy spinning and dyeing yarn and hope to teach it some day. Hope you have a wonderful rest of the week.  Stay tune as I am almost ready to have my blue Kool Aid Yarn singles plied next day or so and when I get to set the twist, I will be over dyeing it with some yellow and orange kool aid, what will happen?  You will have to come back to see. Thanks for stopping by!

Silk Garden Wollen Mutsen

This is the combo of the Noro Silk Garden.  I am very proud of the way it came out as I did not know what would the hat really look like.  The hat was fast crochet project. I would say this is one of my favorite projects and it looks so nice.

If I was going to make the hat again I would take two skeins of the same colorway and work from two directions for this hat.  Nevertheless I had two colorways that were not the same, which kind of assured me that there were not going to be color clashes or repeats.  I like the last idea better, the skeins were very complementary. It took me less than a day to crochet this hat.  I used the Tapestry Crochet Technique to be able to make a nice kind of woven fabric. I went up to a size G or 4.00 mm and I have about 6 to 8 yards left, the hat weighs in at 92 grams and that is with a reversed single crochet edging.  If Noro could keep the vegetable matter off it would have made for a more pleasant crochet experience.

 What is with those knots that I found, people this yarn is not cheap, the least I expect is to have a complete skein without a knot.  Well at least the second skein was without knots. Even with the knot I fused the yarn, who wants a knot in their wool hat.As with the previous Wollen Mutsens this hat is Reversible as well, maybe later on I will have pictures of the reverse side.  The pattern is on the Side Bar and if you are on Ravelry look it up, it is an easy fun pattern to get your Tapestry Crochet techniques Started. In the meantime thanks for stopping by!

Polwarth Top from Southern Cross Fiber

I got this from my friend Naomi and I could not believe how soft this top actually was.   I will also have to say that the dye job and the preparation of this top allowed me to make this skein in one afternoon. Making yarn n a wheel is comfortable  and it is fast once you get to know the fiber.  Yep you heard it right the first few yards of your spinning is  As I was spinning I realized that this was a very soft fiber, even though it looked very rough to the eye.  The dye  job that they did on this material was fantastic, there were no flaws in the way it looked or felt.   kind of like a get to know you for me.  All in all  this Southern Cross Fibre  is a place that I am going to check out real soon.  This  polwarth wool top  allowed me to give this yarn some character, more than what it already possessed when it arrived as a top to my hands.  So I will say that this is a great place to get some nice fiber if you are looking to spin. 

I was able to get 165 yards and I could have gotten more, but I am a real novice with the wheel. Believe it or not when I washed this yarn and was helping it set the twist, the yarn got softer , it is a piece of heaven.  Thanks Naomi once more.  To my surprise this fiber allowed me to a a Crafty guy and do my thing.  I have some pictures that I will be uploading later on about the San Mateo County Fair and the Participation of the Men Who Crochet  Chapter from the CGOA in it.  Thanks for stopping by!

Carlito Cardigan and Blues et reds

The color is richer than the picture, but not that far from it. Hi and welcome to the coloring book of Crafty Andy.  One of the things I enjoy a lot is dye yarn.  I used Jacquard Acid Dyes or 3 colors, Chery Red, Crimson and a dash or drop or two of blue food coloring along side a bit of brown  to deepen the color.  If I was going to repeat the process I would have kept a better record.  Honestly in my opinion you need a chemistry set, because I am dealing with grams and milliliters here.  Dyeing yarn is not something done in a hurry and it becomes an art in itself.  I am very pleased with the color red above, very much so.  I may say is Cylon Red.

The blue is a combination of Sky Blue 3 parts to 1 part Emerald Green  and 5 drops of neon blue food coloring. Vinegar is an essential part of wool dyeing along with heat and lots of patience.  The blues and the reds tend to bleed a lot, this fellow spent about 18 hours in a vinegar dye bath, of those 14 where with direct heat, low mind you and one hour of high heat at the end, before cooling down for two hours or so.

My next knitting project is the Carlito Cardigan, The Agathon Cardigan as I call it.  Don't like the name Carlito has bad memories in it, lol!.  This is a very interesting pattern, but the cables are not unique.  The uniqueness of this pattern comes from the fact that it is done on the bias and that is what is attractive to me. I hope we can chat some more during the weekend as I embark on the project.  I do have some other projects that are crochet, but I am waiting for a yarn  that is coming my way.  The Burgundy Red Crimson is the other yarn I will use for my next Tapestry Crochet Hat, thanks for stopping by.

Blues and Reds

The blues are here I just wanted to test my new found knowledge with other colors and I got the blues.  This is called Sky Blue and it has some drops of neon blue food coloring, but not that much as far as I am concern.

 

The other hand dyed yarn is a combination of two colors present, reds and blues, the skein is very big about 8 ounces so it was a lot easier to make a choice of how to hand dyed.  It almost did not fit in the pot. lol.

 

So here it is and once the three skeins are dry, I will be posting a picture of the skein, re skeined as it takes a different color vibrations sort of.  Anyway thanks for stopping by!

All Crimson Reds are not equal

I really enjoy playing with color and once you learn the trick of reds and blues you are in business.  Reds tend to bleed a lot, but mostly due to over saturated dye pot or not enough time cooking on the stove.

The first picture was my primordial soup of red crimson, it was actually  2 measures of Chery red, 1.5 of crimson red, two drops of neon blue in 250 ml of water , about 100 ml of vinegar and then that potion was remixed in the crock pot.

At this time 3 hours later in the crock pot, in low high for an hour and then in low until it go to the point of this second picture.  The color is rich and I will have to say that Vincent Ricci helped me a lot in understanding color, just by talking to me at the MSKR 2010. Vincent Ricci  aka Tipo Filato from www.tipofilato.etsy.com  had some very nice looking yarn that he hand dyed and just talking to him at the retreat about yarn and dyeing was a very nice.  I got a lot of tips from him on how he allows his yarns to absorb dye and the different processes that he uses to set the dye on the yarn.  The biggest tip i learned from him was  Patience.  What's the rush? Slow heat, then you are able to manipulate the coloring and make it a masterpiece. Over dyeing is another fun part of dyeing, but that will be another post.  Thanks for stopping by!