Let's see if I can make myself post at least once a month. Hopefully the more I post, the more interesting it can get. I apologize that several of the photos in this post are iPhone pictures.


After I played around with the inkle last month, I started messing around with Kumihimo. My grandma gave me her stand, which my grandpa built. It's a little on the tall side, but it works, and I think with the weights it's probably easier to keep tension than if I had tried one of the inexpensive disks instead. I've made a few braids with bits of cotton that I have around the house. Here is the first one:


For the little one giving her youngest cousin a big hug and kiss here, I made a dressy little day-glo skirt for her third birthday.

As is normal for her, before the end of the party she had decided to try it on.


and just a random picture of an inkle I've been working on, I have a simple twill scarf on one of my floor looms, but no pictures of it yet.

Okay, so I've been ignoring this blog. What's new- I tend to ignore it when school is in session, then come back to it when I've got a break. I spent the first week of this break recovering from getting my wisdom teeth out, then this week trying to get caught up, and hopefully I can get more stuff done next week before school starts back up.

Every time there is a break I have a list of things I want to get done. This break was no different, and it also was no different in that I was distracted and started doing other things instead. I did a lot of knitting on a plain sock, and it's pretty obvious where I was on a dose of vicodin (I got dry socket in both bottom sockets) and where I wasn't. Oh well, it's just for me and probably will wash out over time, since it's just tension issues.



Once I was off the vicodin I dragged out two of my inkle looms and started playing with some pick up designs. I haven't done a lot of work with pick up on the inkles, but I want to make some trim for when I fix the sleeves on my Irish costume. The first loom I warped in chocolate and blue pearl cotton, and started a simple celtic knot pattern that I found online. I'm not totally happy with it, and I'll finish it then borrow a book of celtic needlepoint designs from my grandma to see if there is one I can adapt for a slightly different band.



The second band that I started is on my inklette (which is a pain to warp!) and is in lime and plum bamboo rayon. It's just a simple design that I sketched out when I realized that I wasn't going to have the patience to finish warping it as wide as originally planned. It's the first time I've used this little loom, even though I bought it a while ago. I do like how the band is coming out, and it's some of my favorite colors.



I'll see how far I get these done next week, and hopefully have a better idea about what I want to finish up the costume by then so I can warp the bigger inkle back up.

Anybody looking for a rabbit?

A friend of a friend found him wandering around her driveway. He was caught, the house that they thought he came from was approached, and they admitted to letting him go just because they didn't want him anymore. (who thinks an angora will be okay on it's own. Especially in Sacramento in July???) I said I'd take him because I had an extra cage, but I'm not sure if I have time to groom one more bunny. He's a satin angora, he's small now but I'm not sure if that's due to neglect, or if he's simply young. I also need to attack his coat, and I'll probably just chop it all off.

In other news, more scarves on and off the loom- I was playing with a pattern and tried it out in several different color combinations. By the last one it's evident that I was getting tired of it! Here is a picture before that last one was off the loom.
The warp on all of them is Webs merino/tencel yarn, and the weft is various heavy fingering weight yarns, some are bamboo/merino/nylon, one is merino/tencel, and one is some cotton/wool/nylon sock yarn that I had a single skein of sitting around.

A recent project- it's now finished weaving, but still on the loom while I finish the rest of the warp.

Two "new" toys.

One belonged to a friend of my dad's. It's a 1908 Singer 66K-1.

It has Brown Lotus decals and my dad restored the cabinet. (I guess it was in pretty poor shape, I still need to work on gluing down a loose part of the veneer. The machine itself is in great shape.

The other machine was my great grandmother's White Family Rotary. It's a 1909 machine and sews wonderfully, even though it's in not as nice cosmetic condition. I'll need to do some work on the cabinet, as it got left outside for a while.

After tuning them up, I've been playing with them and made a couple of modern dresses, a small carpetbag and a cat bed.

I've been neglecting this blog, but what is new- I get busy and forget. I do update my bento blog much more often at least!

I've been up to a lot. I just did an art show this weekend and sold a little yarn. I've been spinning, weaving, dyeing, sewing and working with the critters. Here are some shots of yarn.


These yarns are all naturally dyed during a dye workshop I took a couple weeks ago. The first two on the left are cochineal, one was dipped in ammonia, and there is a slight difference, but not enough to show in the photo. (not to mention that the picture is taken with artificial light at night!) The third skein is cochineal overdyed with one dip of indigo. I hope that the indigo holds up. The next skein is just indigo, several dips to get it reasonably dark. Then there is a walnut overdyed with indigo, a dill overdyed with indigo, a walnut and a dill. The dill and walnut are lighter than expected, which is probably due to a high mineral content in the water in Grass Valley. It was fun and hopefully will help get me to try more natural dyeing.


This second picture is some handspun cormo I've been working on. Over the summer I was on a lime and orange kick. I mentioned it to a friend at Lambtown and talked her into watching my booth when she mentioned that one of my favorite wool vendors had some lime green and orange roving for sale. I ran and grabbed it. I've spun a few bobbins, but still have a reasonable amount to go. I have an idea for this yarn, but I need to see just how much I have when I'm done to make sure it will work.

What I did last Saturday......

I sold yarn and fiber at Lambtown. I didn't have time to take any pictures, but there is one here.

A new dress-

It's not the best picture, as I'd just had a tooth filled, but I do like the dress. I didn't think that the skirt was full enough, so I made a corded petticoat to wear under it. I do like how the skirt fits with the corded petticoat, a tucked petticoat and my full plain petticoat layered under it. I wore it with my new robert land boots to a Civil War period dance on Saturday. (yes, I know it's about 15 years too early.... It's what I had!)

I have been knitting a little bit, I've got several socks going, and a pair of mittens almost finished. I also finally decided to just serge the raw edges of the towels I took off of my loom months ago. I hope that they hold up, but they've already been gifted, so I don't have any pictures of them. I also made a dress for Gianna, but it's still a little big for her.

New words

I babysat my 15 1/2 month old niece tonight- she's definately a busy girl. She's picked up a TON of new words this month. Tonight I heard the most of "hi," "no," "mine," and "meow." I think she also told me "nothing" at one point when I asked what she was doing.

The picture above was taken in February- she is hiding under the apron of my 1840's dress.

random stuff

Babies! two new texel litters born this week.

And some weaving

It's only about 3" wide, threaded as an 8 harness rosepath, the treadles are tied like a twill, but it's woven as an overshot....

Thumbelina

I have a two day old pup who is just the tiniest thing. I keep thinking that she's not going to make it, but she's acting just like a normal pup other than her size and seems to be eating just fine. Yesterday I took some pictures of her with a half sibling who is about a week old.

And here she is next to a pair of normal sized fiskars for a size comparison.

http://www.savestateparks.org/

Cat fluff everywhere.....

I guess it's spring! Happy spring!



Wolfie can come by and add some of the fluff to your floor too! Can't you see how happy he is to roll it all off?

Why was I complaining about navy blue fabric and navy blue thread in my last post? Well it had to do with something I've been working on for Sutter's Fort. I recently finished docent training there, and now I'm getting a period costume together.

These pictures were taken in my parent's living room- with a small house and two cats, there is no way my place is that neat.

The dress is made from a blue and tan plaid "homespun" cotton fabric. I used a pattern from Sutter's Fort called the "1840's Wrapper Dress." I did alter the pattern a little bit to cartridge pleat the skirt. (I had to add a strip of fabric to the pleated part of the skirt and put a binding on the bodice where the skirt was sewn.) I also lengthened it a little bit. In the pictures I'm wearing period undergarments- three petticoats, a chemise, a corset and a pair of drawers. I also need to work on an apron, and I have a straw bonnet that I need to modify a little bit. I'm also trying to figure out how to put my hair up- it's so thick, that while I can braid it, one braid won't stay up on my head. I think I might be able to do some sort of figure 8 bun if I do two braids.

Now I'm very tempted to start on another dress from the Laughing Moon Ladies' Round Dress pattern. I'm leaning toward view B, or maybe view C with the sleeves of view B.

When hand sewing with navy blue thread on navy blue fabric, an Ott light is an invaluable tool.

What I'm doing this year....

I have many projects going on in the fibery world. I've been working on an 1847 costume on the sewing front. It's coming along, but I'm getting distracted by other things too.

I've finished several pairs of socks this year, you can see them all right here.
This pair is made from handspun BFL

I've started a few new pairs of socks, one is a pair of cabled socks with trekking.

it's farther along than the picture now, but this one shows the cables better. I've also got a regia cotton surf sock started, as well as a pair of mittens from Folk Mittens.

Olives and Socks....

Okay, so I went to my brother's house and picked olives this past weekend- I've now got 7 pints of pickled olives on my counter, as well as a quart in the fridge. I hope that they're all edible, the ones I've eaten so far were YUMMY!

I also finished a pair of socks I started a while ago.

They're a pair of the Dragonfly socks pattern that I have for free on my website. I started them MONTHS ago, to test knit the pattern, I finally finished the second sock on Sunday. I wore them yesterday for "crazy sock day" at school, but the kids were disappointed that my socks matched each other...

When I finished those socks, I cast on some handspun BFL yarn in a jaywalker pattern. It's already been frogged and another pattern that better suits the yarn started with it- but here's a picture of the original attempt.


I'm taking Archemedes and his sister to a show on Sunday, let's hope that they do well!

Okay, here are some quick pictures of what I've been doing when I'm not working...

An easy lace scarf- it's called "Rabbit Tracks" and I thought it was appropriate for an angora and texel blend handspun yarn.


You can find the pattern here.

Here is the guinea pig I have in the most coat right now- it's not a great picture, but he's got wonderful curl!

I get so bad about posting here! I've been very busy with work, then last week I had a bad cold....

The animals are doing well, I did take the guinea pigs to the state fair, and got three best of breeds, and one best opposite. It's not hard when nobody else enters those breeds... There is a show this weekend at the San Benito county fair, we'll see what happens there.

I'm planning on getting back to dyeing yarn soon! The Sacramento Center For the Textile Arts sale is the 10th and 11th of November, and I need stuff for the show. I am hoping to have some needlefelted stuff and some handwoven scarves available too. We'll see how much time I have. I have finished a few knitted items since the last post, maybe I'll get pictures taken someday, and I'll get them up here.

Well, It's been a busy couple weeks, in spite of being out of school still. I have just about 2 weeks left of break. I'll be at the county fair a little bit this week, and Saturday I was at Lambtown. For some pictures see the NCAG blog. I didn't get any pictures of what I bought, but I've already been enjoying it. I got some pretty romney roving, it's blended in shades of peach and lavender with a touch of blue, a baby alpaca fleece, and some blended fiber batts. The alpaca may find it's way into my shop in either batt or yarn form.....