admin

July 2, 2010July 2, 2010

Fiber Arts Friday – Crochet Cotton

Welcome back Fiber Arts Friday followers!

This week was crochet cotton week. I picked some up on sale and decided to play around with it and here are the 2 projects I’ve been playing with.

In the past I’ve told you about the crochet horse fly bonnets my mother-in-law makes and again I tried my hand at making my own. I still don’t quite have it right so there’ll be a few more failed attempts to show you along the way I’m sure. I don’t think my model horse Fay liked the crochet ears much either. Just look at that face.

My next project was my very first dish cloth. Yes surpisingly I have never made one. I think normally most people start learning to crochet by making one but not me. My first crochet project ever was a huge afghan. Darn thing took me 7 months to finish. Ok I’m off track again. Tada! I present you lemon and lime dish cloth. My hubby hates it, says it’s too 70’s looking so it’ll probably go to someone who will appreciate it more.

The pattern I used can be found HERE.

Lastly tomorrow starts Tour de Fleece! I just got my roving from Wonder Why Gal’s shop and can’t wait to spin every day for almost a month!

June 25, 2010

Fiber Arts Friday – Knitting Loom War

Welcome Fiber Arts Friday visitors.

So my project this week was learning to use a knitting board or a knitting loom. It turns out I really hate this thing. Everything I’ve read and watched showed this to be a simple tool for people who can’t knit. (Even kids can use it they boast) Yeah well I must be a slow learner when it comes to simple tools.

The concept was simple. Wrap the loom and hook over the thread, wrap again and hook. Easy as pie. Heck no. I started my scarf 8 times before I was mildly happy with the cast on and first few rows. For the life of me I cannot get the first few rows to hold tension and the stitches are so loose. About 5-6 rows in the stitches look much better and are more consistent.

Thankfully with creative photography my work looks brilliant! I’m going to give this trinket a few more tries before I decide to totally trash it.

June 23, 2010

Wordless Wednesday – Cheeto

June 18, 2010June 18, 2010

Fiber Arts Friday – Alpaca Fur Blanket

Hello Fiber Arts Friday followers!

A while back I told you about the unfortunate passing of my alpaca Miracle. We ended up processing her hide and sent it off to be tanned and made into a lap robe. Well the good news is our Miracle Blanket is finished! I picked it up from Sivko Furs, Inc on Sunday and have had a full week to enjoy it.

Sivko Furs did an awesome job! I’m thrilled with the outcome. The fur is held tightly to the hide and has been brushed clean and is so soft. Their seamstress did a beautiful job sewing on a soft beige color fleece. She managed to hide the seam for the majority of the blanket and only a small area at the neck shows her stitching where she had to turn the blanket inside out.

Per my asking she trimmed some of the neck off A) so we didn’t have a seam in the fleece backing and B) so I had a piece of fur hide to keep and play with for my own projects. They also included all the other little scraps of hide they trimmed off while making the finished blanket. Maybe in future FAF posts I’ll show you what I plan on doing with them all.

The look and feel of this blanket really made me think of the old carriage lap robes used to stay warm with on cold winter nights. Actually the authenticity of such a lap robe isn’t too farfetched. Did you know in the late 1800’s alpaca was more popular in the US than sheep’s wool? Unfortunately it was a short lived industry since the quantity needed to keep up with demand wasn’t there and sheep ended up taking over as a preferred fiber. Check out my post on Alpaca, Fiber of the Presidents for more info.

If any of you who end up in the same situation as I did be sure to read my post on preserving your alpaca hide and I highly recommend the kind folks at Sivko Furs who had a great turnaround time and a very fair price for processing our Miracle.