We Have a New Tablecloth!

I love it! It is so cheerful. I framed the fabric with a checkered bias binding in red and green. I started out with the red binding, but I did not have enough, so I added the green one. Now it looks as if I had done it on purpose. Success!

 

Thick and Thin

My daughter’s teacher owns three Shetland sheep and several spinning wheels. She was very kind to lend me one ( a wheel, not a sheep). It is an old double drive, but she could not tell me who made it.

This is the first yarn I have spun on it. Prior to that I had spun on a spindle and had tried spinning wheels whenever I could get my hands on one, but never longer than for a few minutes. 

I had so much fun spinning this! The fiber is my own hand dyed Merino Top and I just loved watching the colours play. It is very relaxing.

I think I already had a nice rhythm going, but it took me quite a while to figure out, that I had to adjust the tension as the bobbin filled up. That is where the thick stuff happened.

Sadly I have only one bobbin so I have not been able to ply this yarn and of course it is over twisted. I have another 2 oz left of this colour way and I will try my best with it!

 Heather from Craftlit recommended this book for the beginning spinner and I am thinking about getting one, but then I do not own a spinning wheel, do I?

Custom Order

Recently I received a very nice request for a 4 oz skein transitional yarn. My customer told me she wanted to knit a lace scarf ( Maybe this one?).

 I had the idea to dye the yarn so that it is dark at the beginning, turning lighter towards the middle and then back to dark again at the end of the skein. When you knit this yarn you will have a scarf with matching ends.  

I think I should add this scarf to my ever growing to-do list!

Please contact me, if you like this design as well and I can dye some yarn in your favourite colours!

 

 

Outgrown

 

I made these pants in September 2006 for my youngest daughter. She loved them so much, that she wore them every week and she kept wearing them even though the were getting too short. Then some seams ripped. She asked me to fix them. I told her it was time I made her some new pants.

The pattern is my own. The embroidery design was inspired by  Joan McGowan-Michael’s Over-the-Knee-Stockings found in the Vogue Knitting Fall 2006. The leaves I painted on with fabric paint using freezer paper to make the stencils.

The embroidery took forever, so I have to come up with something simpler this year. But I hope, she will like her new pants just as much!

 

For the Love of Fabrics

A little while ago I drove to a Sewing and Craft Show  to finally buy me a new serger. While I was there, I noticed a wonderful booth of a fabric store. I know everyone has a different taste, but when I go into fabric store I maybe like 10% of their fabrics. At this booth I could have bought 90%  of their fabrics. It was all so beautiful! They had quilts, bags and an apron to look at. They had a cute little shelf full of fat quarters. There were bolts of fabrics and many, many tastefully combined fabric sets. 

What I liked most were different fabrics (by Kaffe Fassett ?) put up in wooden embroidery hoops and hung on the wall. That is a great idea for people who love fabrics, but don’t have much time to sew.   

I just could not resist and bought these fabrics, that came also in a set:

The first one is Mark Hordyszynski for michael miller Fabrics and the bottom one is from Alexander Henry. ( Sorry about the rumpled appearance. I had to wash them right away in case I get a chance to sew.)

The store is called “Quilt Essential Fabrics” and is located in Abbotsford. The store does not have a website, but the owner has a blog. I can’t wait to pay them a visit!

Unacceptable

When we moved into our house we inherited an old metal watering can, that hangs decoratively on the outside of the garden shed. Every spring we watch a brave male Chickadee do his best to make a nice cozy nest in there. It has its points: It is protected from the rain and it has two exits now since the spout came lose.

We watch him work hard for hours and then he invites his lady friend for inspection. Sadly the women have found it always unacceptable so far. And I can understand why. The watering can hangs barely 4 feet off the ground. It is right next to the shed’s door and someone might just come by and take it. But oh, wouldn’t it be nice? I could watch them while having breakfast and I could take a peek in there, when I get a gardening tool.

Maybe I could make it better somehow? I could hang it up higher and offer some roving. But it could be that those Chickadee ladies are just too picky. They did not like the custom built and correctly hung birdhouse either that my kids and I made last year.  Birds these days…

A Miracle – It Is Done!

This is what I have called the Endless Wrap. I started this in August last year as my vacation project. When I realized how much knitting I still had to do afterwards I set it aside for a while and worked on it only occasionally. I was very surprised that I had enough length when I draped it around my dressmaker’s doll (Dolly) the other day. At the end I did not measure it, but I know, that I did not knit it to the required length of about 2,60m.

Because I wanted flat seems, I whip-stitched the edges together without overlapping them. It was surprisingly easy to match up all the edges. I just draped the shawl in my lap, formed the knot and flipped it over. I sewed the ends together first and secured the middle of the back with a safety pin. Then I seemed the edges together starting in the middle of the back going forward.

When I started this project I did not expect much. The yarn I used is not as drapey as the one used in the book and I wondered how a large knot on my chest would look…

Surprisingly the wrap does look very nice. Wearing it makes you feel like somebody is giving you a hug and I really like how the lines flow. I is definitely an unusual piece. 

Specs:

Pattern: Twisty Turns by Norah Gaughan from Wrap Style

Yarn: 4 skeins of Briggs & Little Anniversary Twist

   

Back to Basics – Chocolate Chip Banana Muffins

  

In my house we regularly end up with bananas that have turned too ripe for my family’s taste. So I make muffins with them. The following recipe is delicious.

2 ripe bananas, mashed

1 tsp baking soda

1 tsp hot water

1/2 cup butter

3/4 cup sugar

1 egg

1 tsp vanilla

1  1/2 cups flour

1 tsp baking powder

1/2 tsp salt 

2/3 cup chocolate chips ( I prefer small ones)

Mix the bananas, baking soda and water together. In a separate bowl cream butter and sugar. Add the egg and the vanilla. Stir in flour, baking powder and salt. Lastly add the banana mixture and the chocolate chips.

Bake at 425 F for 15 to 20 minutes.

Ingenious Contraption

I do love a cup of tea, actually a mug of tea. Something that warms your hands and has steam rising up your face. Being at home a lot I will often get up and make myself a fresh tea.

Most of the loose teas I have come across are superior to teabags and I have found a great supplier of wonderful loose teas. The problem is that I am often too *cough*lazy*cough* to reach for the loose teas.

So when I saw this, I had to have it (It helped that it was on sale as well). It is made by Swissmar and you can use it as a spoon to get the tea out of its container and to let it steep. Great!

The pretty glass mug is made by Bodum and I sadly own only one. Maybe on my next visit they will have them in stock again.