Projects and things

WARNING
This post will be sort of jumbled, and jumping from thing to thing - Just like my state of mind right now! :) But, it's all good, as I'm still getting things done.

Since moving into the house and having a $0 decorating budget right now, I'm really heavy into renew, reuse, recycle. I wanted a new look on my bathroom window sill, so I decided to reuse some emerald green sparkling cider bottles to decorate with. They match with the green marble tiles on the floor. I may embellish them a bit more later, but, so far, this is what I've come up with. It looks kinda neat to me.



Here's a look at some of my lovely plants:





Here's my finished Dane Shawl, first shown in the October 27, 2010 post. It turned out great. This one is from sheep to shawl. For those of you who don't know what that means : I got the raw fleece, washed it, dyed it, spun it into yarn, and then knitted it into this shawl. I love it and it's happily on display in my craft room.



I made some new bead spindles. I made one a couple years ago (it's shown here in my December 30, 2010 post, and my November 27, 2009 post). But, after seeing similar bead spindles in an online friend's post on http://www.ravelry.com, and on her blog, http://www.fiberdrunk.blogspot.com, I had spindle envy and decided to make some also. They are made with African beads and bamboo for the shafts. One has a vintage no.3 steel double pointed knitting needle as a shaft. Three of them spin very well (including the one with the steel shaft), but one has a little wobble. That's the one with the cotton fiber on it. I'm hoping that a bit more fiber on it will make the wobble disappear, as sometimes happens with spindles.
Here's what they look like:




I was gifted an interesting spindle by an online friend, Janet, I met on ravelry. It's called a PHANG spindle, and is used in Asia. If you go on youtube.com and type in phang, you will be able to view videos of women using them. For some strange reason, I can't insert links here. Maybe someone out there can tell me what I'm doing wrong.

Janet makes these spindles by hand whittling them from wood in her area of the country. I saw her post showing some she'd made and I was intrigued so I asked if I could buy or trade for one, and she decided to gift me one! The selfless generosity of Fiber folks never ceases to amaze me! Anyway, along with the spindle came some lovely llama fiber to practice with. I've been practicing and getting use to the feel of the spindle. Since I'm already familiar with support spinning, it's not too difficult. But, there's still a learning curve. :) Here's a look at the spindle:



Lastly,my 7 year old recently lost her mittens on the bus on the way from school. I'm making her another pair from handspun yarn (made on a spindle) I made about 5 years ago. I'll be smart this time and make an I-cord to run through the sleeves of her coat, so these won't get lost! The handspun actually looks very good considering it was one made during my first year of spinning. They are being knit on bamboo double pointed knitting needles that I made from bamboo skewers. They are a size 4 and they knit very well.



A shot of the needles

Some things I'm working on

I've been working on some cotton that I have ignored for some time. I started spinning it with a vengeance since I've been home with the kids over the holiday break.

Variegated green cotton! Photo is not so clear and doesn't show the colors too well. The colors on the spindle show pretty well though. Spun directly from the hand ginned bolls.


White ginned cotton carded on wool cards


Progress on the CVM wool
Here is my progress on the CVM wool I posted on before. I've rolled 3 plying balls as I'm planning on making a 3 ply yarn.

Cool Socks!

Cool Socks!
Originally uploaded by nkosit1968

Finally finished my socks. These were knit with Red Heart superwash wool and nylon with Aloe! Pretty good stuff. I love the colors.

Freecycle finds

Today, I scored well on Freecycle ( an organized yahoo group in your local area where people list things they have to give away, and people request things that they'd like - all for FREE!). Yay Freecycle!

I went to meet a lady who offered a small antique table. It had been stripped of paint, as she had intended to fix it up, but never got around to it. I got it and painted it. Should have taken some before pictures, but didn't think of it.

From this same lady, who was apparently cleaning out her apartment, I got a large, old, wooden frame that was gold in color and detailed with flowers or something. I painted that too, and put an old corkboard I had in it. Since the corkboard didn't fill the entire frame, I used a bit of burlap to cover the area . Now it's a message or picture board! I also forgot to take before pictures.

I also got a large potted plant and an old sign.

Here are the pics:

Pretty Things!

I just had to share these really cute items I scored recently while thrifting. Generally, when I go to the thrift stores, it's to seek out hand made pottery and ceramics. But, I think I did well to find these really pretty cups. I love to drink tea, and drinking out of a pretty cup just makes you feel oh so pretty! LOL!


Mikasa "Ivory China"




Unnamed yellow teacups with flower print and gold rim

Cotton grows in Brooklyn????

Yay! I'm doing a happy dance!

Folks, I love spinning cotton, and so, I wanted to experiment with growing it here in Brooklyn. Now, last year I tried growing some cotton (from seeds I ginned from purchased cotton bolls) when we lived in an apartment. I put it in bright sunny, west facing windows with no luck. An online friend said she had gotten some to grow in her south facing window in Ohio! So, this year, when we moved into our home, I decided to try it out in little pots in my north facing back yard. Well, let me tell you...cotton takes a long time to grow! I had two pots outside all summer long. One plant flowered and grew a boll. The other didn't. When the weather gold cold, I brought the pots inside and placed them in a very sunny south facing window. The boll grew and grew until finally, today, I noticed it had popped open! Inside is really some white cotton! Can you tell how thrilled I am? The second plant flowered and has a tiny boll growing on it. I never thought the plants would last long. They were showing signs of death. Leaves were drying up and falling off, even with watering almost every other day. But, those little plants are survivors!

Enough with the talk.... Let me show you what I"m talking about.


Well, well, well! I'll be......! Cotton can grow in Brooklyn! And I did it! Yes, sirree, I did it!!

New Projects

Well, it's been a while since my last post! I've finally made some time to list some of the projects I've been working on lately. My life has been so stressful lately, and these projects have helped me maintain my sanity. I can't express how good it feels to work with fibers. The feel of the fiber in my hand; the smell of it; the look of it - it makes me feel happy! I love the process so much. The finished yarn and project are secondary for me. Anyway, here are a few of the things I'm working on currently. There's one finished item also!


Merino/Viscose pencil roving on spindles. This wool was gifted to me by a good internet buddy and handyed by me.



Dane Shawl made from handspun, easter egg dyed corriedale wool fleece. Can't wait to finish this!



CVM wool on spindles. I love this wool!



Crocheted Hat for the man! Made with my handspun superwash wool.



Socks for the man!


I'll try to be a good blogger and update more regularly. I'll also have some more pics of my thrift finds! Love, Love, Love.
Peace!