No Theme

It's funny how purely by happenstance, there tends to be a theme to my posts. This time around, you're on your own. I can't find one.

I've been dawdling through a towel with Sophie. The pattern is simple (1,2,1,2,1,2,2,1,2,1,2, etc), but I kept losing count and weaving too many rows. So, I decided to go on a hunt for an abacus. This is so much easier for me to keep track of, throw the shuttle, slide a bead, repeat.

I made a tiger from Edward's Menagerie with some yarn I had left over.

This is my first successful round braiding! Isn't it pretty?!

Socks, always socks!

This pattern was in a "Vogue Knitting" magazine, early fall 2019. The sweater's not my usual style, but for some reason, I couldn't resist. Besides, it turns out, it matches my skirt!

Here's a better picture.

And the back (rather obvious, I know).

Edward's Menagerie strikes, again! My grandbaby was "the man in the yellow hat" for Halloween, so here's his Curious George.

And I'll finish with more diaper covers for someone else's end.

Learning

There's been a lot of learning happening.

Last month, I went to WEFF. One of the vendors taught me how to use this tool for Andean plying. It allows one to ply from both ends of a piece of yarn at the same time, without a tangled mess. 

Maybe I should learn some self control. Here is only some of the fiber I bought there.

I'm getting better at making diaper covers.

I don't know if this counts as fiber art for Spinzen, but here's my grandbaby using my inkle loom to learn to walk.

My friend works at an elementary school that has a massive garden. They grew the cotton you see here in the basket. She invited me to their school fair to demo the processing of it.

I spun this small bit from their homegrown cotton.

My nephew came for a visit and sat down to learn to spin.

 And my sister-in-law couldn't put the Inkle loom down.

To Baby Land

I'm not a fan of flying, so my sister held my hand for a flight to baby land to see my daughter and son-in-law.
I took a few <wink, wink> things I'd made for the coming baby.

 

Remember that tangle of yarn? Here's Blake from Edward's Menagerie, all made up. And I knit a Raggedy doll, too, with the standard dress and overalls. When the baby of unknown gender made an entrance (after this photo was taken), I dressed the doll.



Every baby needs a pair of muck-lucks, a hunter's cap

and a pink bunny.

And just because, I made baby a few pairs of socks.

What's there to do while away from home and waiting? I found this knitted lace, shawl pattern on Ravelry. It is Orenburg Harmony by Loginova Svetlana and made up from Forest Hills, silk 51%, merino 49%.



Once I was home again, I went back to the baby blankets on Sophie and her drawloom. For the purple blanket, I designed as I went. I also used it as a sample, to see what would work for the next design. You see, normally, there are, for example, 4 warp threads and 4 weft or 6 X 6 or 8 X 8 to make a [design] unit (like a pixel or square on graph paper). Each one of the tiny squares on the design on the top edge of the blanket in this picture is a single unit. In this case, each is made with 6 warp and 12 weft threads. If I hadn't bothered to sample, my next project would have shown a distorted picture. 

Yay! No flat cats!      Now, look near the top of the picture, you can see white and brown threads that are pulled down onto pegs. Look directly over the left hand cat's head. That's one unit (six warp threads) raised by pulling down the brown draw cord. This pattern is one I found on Pinterest: club-kreuzstich.com. 

 



I've been a bit out of control, making stuffed animals out of patterns from Edward's Menagerie. I made this elephant for the grandbaby and another for a friend (she begged).



Father tested, baby approved.

Baby tested, father approved requested a few minor changes.  <Snort!> I just read what I wrote. It stands.        I saw this cloth at the fabric store. How could I resist giving it a try, making some cloth diaper covers?