Archive for the ‘My Projects’ Category

This is what you can look forward to next month:

Machine-knitted panel in Mini Mochi from Crystal Palace. Mmmmm!!! Self-striping goodness!

As you may or may not be aware, American Yarns is very proud to be the first Australian stockist of Crystal Palace yarns!  Crystal Palace make some gorgeous yarns, but they are perhaps most famous for their Mini Mochi – 80% wool, 20% nylon, slow-striping fingering weight yarn.  They also make a Mochi Plus (10 ply) and Chunky Mochi (12 ply).  This yarn is soooooo soft!  And it just glides through my knitting machine!  I knitted this on my old Empisal KH680L and it just glided through the carriage like butter – such a pleasurable experience I am lost for words!  My customers love Noro but when I showed them the Mini Mochi sample, they just ooohhh and aaahhhed.

Think the striping pleasure of Kauni, but with the softness of Malabrigo and you have Mini Mochi!

I am going to turn this sample into a cushion cover – I only had two balls to play with – so if you’re in-store please come on in and ooohhhh and aaaahhh with us!

After the Charity Knit-In tomorrow, I will be listing Crystal Palace yarns on my site and taking pre-orders for the planned shipment in September.  So make sure you are subscribed to my newsletter to be informed when these yarns are listed and available for purchase.

Until next week then!  Oh and here’s another drool-worthy close-up…

Now here is what I’ve been up to!

Crochet Slouchy Beanie - crocheted in Debbie Stoller's Stitch Nation "Bamboo Ewe". Pattern from "Celebrity Slouchy Beanies to Crochet"

I crocheted this in just over 3 hours – a very quick and easy pattern from “Celebrity Slouchy Beanies to Crochet” (more copies due in-store next week).  I used half a ball each of two colours of Bamboo Ewe – so from 200g of yarn, you could get two crocheted hats.  This is actually a kid’s large, but as you can see it could fit a woman – it fits me!

My next project is also crocheted – the Joseph Wrap by Jenny King, as published in Crochet! magazine.

I used 8 balls of Noro Silk Garden – and just kept crocheting until I ran out!

Joseph Wrap by Jenny King Designs

I believe every fibre artist should have a seminal project by which they are defined.  Because I dabble in crochet, machine-knitting and spinning, I have a seminal project for each.  These projects may take years, I plan to exhibit them and blog about my progress making each one, and they will become (hopefully!) treasured family heirlooms.

For crochet, I actually have two projects.  One is a filet crochet afghan in pure wool, the other is an evening gown in alpaca silk, from Blue Sky Alpacas.  Both are bagged up, with pattern, ready for me to start.

Tonight I found my machine-knitting project:

Machine-Knitted wedding dress in 3 ply wool, knitted on Singer Memomatic 321, 322, 323 only

I found it in a pattern book I bought off EBay last week – Memomatic Pattern Book Number 23.

It reminds me of the dress my mother wore at her wedding in 1972.  I just love it!  I won’t have any need to wear one (I’m already married!) but I just want to knit it for the challenge – I want to knit it and exhibit it and have people ‘oo’ and ‘aahh’ over it.  Conceited?  Maybe…  Crazy?  Maybe…  but it sure will be a lot of fun!

Anyone for a KAL??

This dishcloth took me 1 hour, 45 minutes to crochet.  I crocheted it during some down time at the shop last week.  I used Sugar ‘n Cream cotton in hot blue and black from my stash.  The pattern was from the new book:  “2 Hour Dishcloths” by Annie’s Attic.

2-Hour Dishcloths - new from Annie's Attic - Crochet

It is available for pre-order in the shop, but I have some copies coming in a week or so.

2 hour crochet dishcloth done in Sugar 'n Cream cotton

I have finally gotten around to taking pics of the handspun I’ve been spinning on my Schacht Matchless wheel.  Pics below with captions.  Enjoy!

A Drop of Merlot - 2 ply bulky, wool (solid burgundy plied with green, yellow pink multi) - first ever plied yarn

Limeade - wool multi in fresh greens - the handspun I'm most proud of because it doesn't have any overspun bits!

Pink Pansy - my second plying project - pink silk plied with pink wool multi - bulky

Stormy Afternoon - alpaca/soysilk multi - not thrilled with the colours...

Neopolitan - alpaca/merino/silk in mint, choc and cherry colours - reminds me of ice-cream!

A holiday in Burgundy - burgundy and olive blend wool from the Mountain Spinnery - Brisbane

Alpacaramel - pure alpaca spun from carded fleece - the first skein from a 1kg fleece

Olive Grove - olive wool and lime pure bamboo - the silver reminds me of the leaves of the olive tree!

Here are some pics of my most recent machine-knitted project – a pair of pants for my 5 year old daughter:

Machine-knitted kid's pants, size 6 - merino superwash

I knitted them on my Empisal KH680L machine back in March but it has taken me this long to get them finished!  I used some Cleckheaton baby merino superwash wool in a red multi and solid red, that I got from Spotlight for $2 a ball a couple of years ago.  The wool is very soft, but it was a major pain to weave in all those ends from the ball changes!  (Each ball is only 25g).

I used the pattern from my Empisal pattern book – pants and skirts and it went okay.  I had a little trouble with the short rows, but eventually worked it out.  The short rows at the bum mean that the rise on the pants is higher at the back, which is what you want.  I did a simple folded hem at the base of each leg and then sewed up the waist on my Singer sewing machine using a stitch for knitted/stretchy fabrics, which I am particularly pleased with.  I knitted the size 6 as I wanted to get a coupple of years out of them – they are too long, but the rise seems to be okay.   I sewed up the legs on my Bellinky linker, with sewing thread, which I won’t do again as the thread was too fine.  I managed to get some cheap fine cotton cones at the Qld Spinners open day on Sunday (just gone) so will use that next time.

Now that I have the hang of pants, my next project is making a pair for me!  After I finish my husband’s vest, and a friend’s baby blanket, and another blanket, and another skirt…… (sigh)  The list is endless!

My own label

Back view of pants

Here’s some pics of my Chevron Lace Cardigan, crocheted in Brown Sheep Cotton Fleece (80% cotton, 20% wool) – 8 ply:

Chevron Lace Cardigan - cap sleeves

I used a 5mm hook.  this design is crocheted from the neck down, first by completing a yoke, then dividing for sleeves and working on the body.  I chose to leave the sleeves as cap sleeves because I wanted to be able to wear this as a jacket over the top of a long-sleeved top, as well as wearing it as a summer top.

When doing the edging, I made thre button hole loops and used some large blue buttons from my stash

The other day I FINALLY found the time to knit with a punchcard on my Singer memomatic 322!  I chose a lace card as I wanted to knit a scarf for my sister from some Bendigo 4 ply cotton which I was given in the sale of another machine I bought.

Turned out beautifully!  The whole project took 3 hours from start to finish and the cotton required minimal blocking and hardly curled at all which was great! In the pictures, you are looking at the wrong side of the knitting.  Didn’t get a chance to take pics of the finished product due to the fact that I had to post the scarf off realy quick (my sister lives in London).

Looking down at the scarf hanging between main bed and ribber

Closeup showing needle spacers - designed to keep edges straight and prevent dropped stitches in lace designs

Closeup of punchcard in action

Close-up of back of scarf (wrong side)

Here are some pics of some recent handspun:

The one on the left is the remnants of some pink and green multi wool which I got from the US and the one on the right is a grey, purple and olive mix – also purchased from the US.  Most of the pink one was plied with some pink silk (pictures coming).  The purple multi one I just left as is.  I’m most happy with the pink multi – turned out quite well and without too many over-spun fibres.  The purple one, I was having trouble with my tension, so lots of over-spun strands there.  For subsequent projects, I have changed to a super-slow whorl on my Schacht Matchless wheel and this has decreased the amount of overspun significantly.  I am finding as my spinning progresses, that I am enjoying wool fibres more than anything else.  Have recently been spinning alpaca/wool/silk and this turned out okay, but was hard to draft – very slippery with lots of flyaway fibres everywhere!  I am a lazy spinner and prefer to draft my tops/plaits into long thin strips so that all strands will spin to an even thickness.  If I try to spin directly from the top, it is overspun, thick and thin and generally disastrous!  I know the idea of handspun is so it doesn’t look too commercial, but I guess I like everything to be even and ‘pretty’  LOL!

I’d had these chenille squares in my fabric stash for ages and finally got motivated to do something with them for my son’s school fete which was last weekend.

I got nine chenille squares which were pre-cuts from EBay – there’s a lady on there who cuts up old chenille bedspreads and sells the squares for quilters. I originally bought them to use in a quilting project, but decided not to.

Anyway, take nine squares in co-ordinating or contrasting colours and arrange so you’re happy with the effect.  Sew them up in rows of three in a block, then sew each three-square block with the others to make a nine-patch cover.  Repeat for the other side.  Sew both sides of the pillow together along all four sides – but on the fourth side, only sew about 2 inches along at each end.  This leaves a hole big enough to put a pillow form in.  I used a Size 14 form for the smaller one and size 16 form for the two bigger ones.  Then I turned the cover right side out, inserted a pillow form and then sewed the open seam up by hand.

I had a few blue squares left, so decided to make some chenille baby blocks to go with the cushions.  Simply take 6 squares and sew up in a cross formation.  This makes the sides of the cube.  Now, right sides together, go around and sew all the sides of the cube together until you’re left with one open side.  Turn right-side out and stuff with polyfill, then sew up the hole by hand.  I added a metal jingle bell into the centre of the polyfill before I sewed the cube up, but you don’t have to add one if you don’t want to.  You can also be tricky with some embroidery or applique if you have time – I didn’t, hence the plain appearance.  LOL!

Et Voila – a chenille square baby block toy!

Oh and they sold really quickly on the day!