Polymer Clay, Reenactment Costumes, and Weaving

Here's a hodge-podge of photos from this month:

My friend at Needles and Knots here in town hosted an Altoid Tin Decoration Contest.  It was lots of fun trying to come up with a way to use the tin and then to decorate it.  The end result is basketweave in polymer clay baked on the tin.

 I started and finished a corded petticoat.  I've found that they did a great job of keeping long skirts from winding around my legs when I wore them at Conner Prairie.  This one is for the 1700's costume I'll wear at the Feast of the Hunters' Moon in October.  I'm not sure if it is period, but I don't intend to show it to anyone while I'm wearing it!

This is my latest set of handwoven towels.  They are woven on a 20/2 cotton warp, use a 20/2 cotton tabby weft and a very fine, handspun cotton weft.  The purple/blue towel uses three strands of the handspun together to create a thicker yarn.  The multicolored wefts are all single strands.  There are three towels missing from this photograph.  They were woven on the same warp, with the same tabby weft, but used a brilliant blue, handspun cotton.  Much to my dismay, the blue cotton bled and discolored the towels.  It was so disappointing!

Working with the fine (to me--I usually use 10/2 cotton) cotton was, well...fine.  The biggest challenge was that I put on a longer warp than usual and tied on to the previous warp, making for more weaving to be done.  I was very happy when these knots came back up over the back beam!  Whew!

And lastly, a very sad farewell to an old pair of potholders.  I got these through an exchange at the Wabash Weavers' Guild---years ago!  They were well used and well loved.  I've replaced them with some wool ones I made, also quite some time ago, but these old ones that I think were made by Helen will have a special place in my memories!

Dog Sweaters

 A fellow I know from church needed a new sweater for his little dog.  He knows I am a fiber artist and spoke to me at one point last year, but nothing came of the idea of making a dog sweater.  This year, however, we connected and I have made two sweaters.

The green sweater is an old one that the dog has worn for years.  The special part is the sleeves for both the front and back legs.  The replacement is the blue one.  The yarns are 100% acrylic (blue) and an acrylic/wool blend (grey). The sweater was knit in 6 parts--4 legs, the back, and the chest--sewn together and stitches picked up to knit the ribbing for the neck.

If I were to redo the sweater, I would change the sleeves.  I used stockinette stitch for them and they have a tendency to curl.  I used a broken rib stitch for the body and it doesn't curl.  The broken rib stitch would have been better for the sleeves.

I made a second sweater for the dog.  This one is the one I really wanted to do!  It has a woven back piece with knit sleeves, neck and chest.  I was surprised that it took just as long to make this one as it did to make the knitted one.  

I crocheted around the top edge of the woven piece.  The piece has been felted so I don't think it would have frayed, but the crochet gave it a much more finished edge.  I sewed the underside of the piece rather than crochet on both sides of the edge.

I am hoping to get photos of the sweaters on the dog when the weather is cooler.  I'll post them here if I get them!

Crochet and Cat Repair

A friend recently moved and I finally made it over to see her new place.  While we sat and talked she started telling stories about her 6-toed cat.  He's a young thing, maybe five months old.  Because of his extra toes (6 on all 4 paws) he can do fun things like walk the rim of a cardboard box.  But, he's also gotten into some trouble.  He attacked the crocheted window hanging.  It came down with a crash in the middle of the night.  Apparently he attacked the crochet work, as well as brought it down from the window.

This piece was crocheted by my friend's mother and it has hung in her window for nearly 10 years.  I wasn't sure how well it would take to repairs, but I managed to reconnect most of the clawed crochet and reconnect it to it's wire rim.  The hardest part was choosing a green to replace the leaf.  

The photo shows the original.  It was really a brown/olive color.  The more I looked at it though, the more I realized that it was severely faded.  The broken threads showed a much brighter green that the surface of the piece.  I opted for a crochet thread that was similar to the inner color of the old thread.  It's acrylic, not cotton...a fact that I didn't realized until after I made the replacement leaf.  But, I like the color and it works well in the finished crocheted piece.

HGA "Shuttle, Spindle, Dyepot"

The current issue of HGA's "Shuttle, Spindle, and Dyepot" arrived this week.  I must admit, that I am not a big fan of the magazine.  I used to flip through them in the library, but never check them out.  This issue however surprised me!  

There is an article on photography.  I'm learning that I need to learn more about photography. Between this article and my class with Stephanie Metz, I know I need to get a tripod!

There is an article on effective guild presentations.  The author starts with the reality that most fiber guilds have members with a wide background in weaving and in order to create an effective presentation you have to "hold their hands" or "connect the dots" for them otherwise the presentation goes over their heads.  I have seen some of these issues over the years and was thrilled thought behind the ideas presented.

Waffle weave on rigid heddle loom.

And, there was an article on weaving waffle weave on a rigid heddle loom.  I've had my rigid heddle loom warped for months now and haven't woven a bit on it.  A plain weave scarf was a great demo item for school children, but wasn't exciting me!  So, I'm weaving the scarf in waffle weave.  At this point I have no idea how it will turn out--the piece is still on the loom--, but I'm weaving it!  And that makes me happy.

So, hooray for a great collection of articles in SSD!  They helped make my day!

Guitar Strap

This pile of pieces is what I finally got to work on today!  My daughter got guitar strings for her birthday last month and she has been practicing regularly with the big guitar on her knee.  I promised her a handwoven strap...I even found a strap in my stash--it's based on one of the samples I have and combines an open weave like huck with a inkle-like central band...Even better, the strap is pink, which is a favorite color for my daughter!  

The challenge from the last couple of weeks has been the acquisition of the metal slider piece.  The strap is 2.25" wide and most slider pieces I have found max out at 2" inner diameter.  After consulting with my co-workers/volunteers at Conner Prairie and searching in vain at the thrift store, I sent a schematic to my husband to see if he had some scrap and could make a piece.  He could and did! 

 Hooray for people with tools and scrap metal!

Grape Juice and Jelly

Our neighbor brought these over!  We were so excited!  It didn't take long to rinse the grapes, pick them off the stems and get them on the stove. 

Once cooked, we passed the grapes through a food mill (it spits juice out one side and seeds out an end--great for processing apples, tomatoes, etc.  Here's a link to one similar to ours.) and then strained the juice through my jelly bags. The bags are hanging from our level.  It was the only thing long enough to reach from counter to counter and I needed something strong and sturdy!

After that, it was time to make jelly.  Yum!  Home made grape jelly is delicious!  We got two batches of jelly and a pitcher of juice from this batch of grapes. 

And then we had a knock on the door last night--a second box of grapes, even bigger than the first!  The kids were headed to bed, but Martin & I got the second box of grapes started right away!  Now we have another batch of jelly and some canned juice to put on the shelves!

Heat Set, Shibori Style Pleats

A few months ago I wove a scarf with 3/1 vs. 1/3 twill stripes as an experiment with collapse weave. It was moderately successful, but I wasn't thrilled by the results.

Since then, I've read Catharine Ellis' Woven Shibori and a couple of web posts (Yarn Bits, Aug. 2, 2009), and tried a new experiment with one of my samples.

This sample has a mystery yarn (probably a polyester blend) alternating with a 10/2 unmercerized cotton as the warp with another mystery yarn, most likely an acrylic, as weft.

I stitched gathering threads into the sample every 3/4" to 1" and tied them tightly.







Once stitched and gathered, I steamed the sample for 20 minutes.









The resulting pleats were amazing! Oh, wow! This is what I was hoping for!!! Really, the pleats are wonderfully elastic and I was thrilled with the way this worked!

Some things to note: the imperfections in the gathering remain in the set pleats...see the little blue "bubbles" near the bottom of the piece? See how the piece curves up near the fold between the pleated and un-pleated sections? I'll need to be careful to have the piece gathered smoothly.








One last experiment. I had to see how permanent these pleats were.

A twenty minute soak in lukewarm water did not change them.

The iron set for acrylic (lowest temperature setting on my iron) easily flattened the pleats when the sample was still damp (see section marked with two arrows).

The same low temperature setting also removed the pleats from the completely dry sample (see section with single arrow).

So, my exuberance at seeing pleats is tempered by the knowledge that these are quasi-permanent. They can be washed, but the need to be line dried. My guess is that running this through the drier would remove most of the pleating. I can't wait to try more!

Color with Perler Beads

I ironed this perler bead creation for my oldest daughter this morning and was amazed at her use of color.

In person it has an overall brown look, but the spots of color really jump out and shine!

When I grow up, can I create color combos on the loom like this?

Holy Handbags, Honey!

Check these out! These are the bags my friend made for me following the tutorial at Pink Penguin. The tutorial makes the small bag, but my friend modified it and made me the bigger one too! See her posts at Baby Steps.

The bags were part of an exchange--my friend "needed" new, cool, handspun yarn and I "desperately wanted but didn't have the time make" these bags. I had fun spinning the yarn I sent (back in February because I was so excited to have an excuse to spin!) and I am just thrilled with my new bags! The absolute best part of this exchange was the chance to work together as friends. Friends are wonderful!

Handwoven Fabric in Cards

The young women at church are having a fund raiser auction to raise money for camp. I put together these two cards for them to auction.

The twill is a new fabric (just off the loom this week!), but the green I had to dig for--deep into the depths of my sample/scrap box. In fact I had to dig so deep I ended up cleaning my craft room!

The cards are tri-fold, with the window panel in the middle. The fabrics were sewn onto a cream colored piece of card stock, then glued with rubber cement to the frame of the window panel. I'm extremely biased, but I like how they look!


I also finished spinning my East Freisan roving that I got at The Fiber Event last month. It's soft and springy, and this photo doesn't do the deep, dark brown (with tiny reddish highlights) any justice!

Missing Details

Hmm. This looks suspiciously like a bit of dirt. But if you look closely you can see the marks of my rake. This is my flax experiment! The plants obviously aren't here yet, but hopefully they will come and I'll be able to harvest my first flax fibers in August.

The other missing thing is my favorite set of double point knitting needles. I've looked high and low. I miss them! I have a whole family of socks that are awaiting their reappearance! Where are they?

Other Stuff

I spent 5+ hours at the County Fair this morning. The Master Gardeners hosted a booth for "Kids' Day". We gave away sunflowers and had a large table of "interesting" plants for the kids and their parents to explore. My favorite plant was the "living stones". They look like rocks, but they are plants. The "Sensitive Plant" was a big hit with the kids--it actually does stuff! (The leaves fold up when touched.)

After my morning at the fair, I came home and crashed. Whew! I'm pleased that the booth worked out well. I'm glad that my work on it is done. One of my jobs was decorating the booth. The photo is of my poster...I'll have to get copies of pictures from one of the other workers to show my paper plate sunflowers!

Finishing

I'm in the process of finishing the second shawl for the Afghans for Afghanistan shawl project. The trick with finishing this one is that I didn't leave enough yardage to turn a hem.

Good thing I took Joan Sheridan-Hoover's finishing class at the Michigan Fiber Festival in 2007! This is a neat combination of an overhand knot, with the tail woven back into the main fabric. The edge is more stiff than the rest of the fabric (due to the extra yarn being woven in there!), but it makes a nice finished edge for these fringe-less shawls!


Here's a close-up view of the finished bobbles on the edge. I have been alternating sides as I weave the tails in so the bobbles (technically the overhand knots) lean to both sides.

Happy Birthday to Me...

Look at some of my wonderful birthday gifts! Knitting book by the Yarn Harlot (my in-laws saw her in person!), gardening, my newest copy of Spin-Off (wasn't it nice of them and the postal service to deliver it on my birthday!), and a homemade card and "quilt square" from my almost eight year old! She cut out and sewed each of those flowers onto the blue background just for me!

Thank you, all, for making this a memorable birthday!

Doll Trio

Fiber art happens here in odd ways. When my four year old says, "Mom, I'd like to make something. How about these yarn dolls?" what can I do, but say "Yes."?

The narrow side of a DVD case was the right size to wind these dolls. An inch of windings made the bodies and a quarter inch for the arms.

Aren't they great?!

Hodge-Podge

I purchased some buffalo fiber at the Michigan Fiber Festival last weekend. The woman who sold it suggested blending it with some wool because it is apparently very warm by itself (not to mention expensive & I bought less than an ounce!). Here are my buffalo "sandwiches". There are at least three batts stacked together in the photo. I'm not sure yet how I want this to be spun. It may need to sit and wait for a day or two!






This is an edge treatment that we didn't cover in my workshop last weekend! This is a thick, twill fabric intended to become a shoulder bag. To finish the edges at the top of the bag I backstitched a line across the piece about3/8" from the edge. Then I stitched around the raw edge with the yellow yarn, taking care to place the loops right next to each other. The rounded edge looks good from both sides and covers all the loose warp threads.




And, just because it's canning season, here's a photo of my stewed tomatoes in process. I started with a bushel of tomatoes--big slicers--got almost half of them canned, did some salsa, and gave the rest away. Boy how I admire those who do big time canning! It is a lot of work! (But the end result is very satisfying!)