Weaving Success. Kinda.

Since my Weaving Fail, I've been a little skittish about the whole weaving thing. I enjoy the process, the under over thing is soothing but frankly, at this point, is boring. Since I'm still convalescing I am pretty much sick of all things yarn. And all things HGTV as well, incidentally.

Anyway, a friend sent me a blog entry about tapestry weaving. I thought was totally neat. Unfortunately, I didn't save it so I have no idea where it came from.  Since I already had one of my lap looms warped I decided to try it out with the ugly wool yarn they send me with the loom. That way I would get to feel virtuous about not wasting good, but unfortunate looking yarn. Plus, there's the relief of not using my pretty yarn for something that probably will come out hideously.

It was a bit touch and go since I didn’t have any real instructions to work with. I don’t know if this is really weaving. It felt more like needlework actually. I used a variety of needles to get the curves I wanted. Lap looms are pretty needle friendly, though you can do the shuttle thing with them as well. I’m still really inexperienced so I stuck with the needles. The wool was hard to work with as it kept breaking, it gave the piece a kind of a frayed texture.

The loom is a medium lap loom from Harrisville. It was very inexpensive on amazon and comes with instructions on warping the loom and how to weave simple projects. I’ve got several smaller lap looms and some potholder looms which are surprisingly versatile. I am really looking forward to exploring these options further. 

I kind of like the way this Curious project came out. It’s different looking. I think I shall frame and call it some artsy fartsy name like Landscape of Mars on a Midsummer Eve.

Sardines!

Hello everyone, sorry it’s been so long since my last blog. I’ve spent January working on several projects and just haven’t finished them yet. I shall post when I get them done.

   

Todays Curious Project was actually made for a friend. He has a very popular blog called Mouth Full of Sardines (http://mouth-full-of-sardines.blogspot.com/) which is about, you guessed it, sardines!

I, myself, have never much cared for the sardine. However, this pungent fish in a can has a huge following. I shan't pretend to not be jealous of the sardine blog. As I am, viciously. He gets mail from all around the world. Ya'll, people send him cans of smelly, oily fish to eat.... erm... maybe I'm not so jealous now that I think of it.

 Anyhoo. Drew actually read my Poinsettia blanket post and sent me a pic of crochet sardines in a can. To which I said “Omg!” Followed by a frantic search of said crochet project with directions other than French. Happily, the search was short as I found the pattern on the Lion Brand Yarn site.

This was soooooo easy to do! The can isn't as boxy as I would like it to be but I still think it's cute. The  yarn is left over from the spiral blanket project . Its Annie's Attic in Gray 100% acrylic. The sardines are in Red Heart Blue Suede which is for was for another curious project. It really just takes scraps of yarn.

I am hoping this starts a trend of non edible sardine themed gifts to my friend. I just feel his life will be more complete with a house (and not just a mouth) full of sardines!

The TARDIS Bag!

I like Dr Who. I always have, in fact, Tom Baker was one of my little girl crushes. It was one of the few shows Mother let us watch, given that it was science fiction, which in her mind equated to not demonic, and on PBS which made it educational somehow.

Anyway, I was delighted when they resumed the show. Unfortunately, I haven't kept up with all the seasons. I shall, at some point actually sit and watch them, but right now, I don't have BBC America and I can't steal them off the internet, as this would be morally incorrect.... O_O

I've been wanting to do something Whoish for a while, the problem is that there's lots to choose from and nothing really rang my bell. Plus, I'm not really the sort of girl that's comfortable with cosplay, even in its mildest form. I do have friends that are rabid fans, however, and this gives me the perfect opportunity to make stuff I would never actually use, but think are super cool. So, after months of looking, I found the pattern for this bag. People, the heavens opened up and a chorus of weeping angels descended singing the glory on high!

My friends, I give you The TARDIS Bag.

A TARDIS, for the three people on the planet who don't know, is the machine that Dr. Who uses to travel through time. Well, she's much more than that, but I won't give away all the deets. Apparently she got stuck in the shape of a mid century British police box and has remained this way till this day. It's rather iconic In my opinion.

http://www.crochetdynamite.com/2012/09/the-tardis-bag-love-story-in-3-parts.html

I LOVE this bag. I am making myself a non TARDIS one as soon as possible. It's super easy and big enough to be a really nice tote. I love the strap length and I love, love the button. My fez is totally off to the designer!

I used four skeins of Redheart super-saver. Two in the blue, one each of white and black. I wouldn't use a softer spun acrylic like Caron's Simply Soft because you want the hand to be a bit stiff. It might work up nice in cotton as well. I used a little over 1 Skein of the blue so you'll have lots of leftovers. I also lined the bag for a little more support. I hand stitched the lining in and then went over it again with the machine to minimize stretching. I'm leaving out the total cost as I made this for a gift.

I didn't take any pictures of the construction because the tutorial is so well written. It's an intermediate pattern, mostly because of the strap. Those little words gave me a run for my money. The single crochet would be fine, I think if I'd used two strands of white yarn instead of the one. I had to go over them again with a wipstitch as well as outline them with a slipstitch to get them to stand out properly.

I hope the person I made this for enjoys it. I know I enjoyed making it despite the unfortunate misspelling incident. I might per persuaded to make another for some other Whovian. If I really like them, that is!

Weaving Fail

Sometimes learning new things is frustrating. It's true of almost everything, but I've found this especially true with textiles. I bought a book called The Woven Bag by Noreen Crone-Findlay. I love this book. It's got lots of projects that a body actually wants to do, (or at least this body). So,  I started my second weaving project full of hope and enthusiasm. And as I wove I had grand ideas of my project turning out like this:

 

 

What I got is this:

 

Obviously, something went terribly wrong. I don't know what. And that's the frustrating part. Weaving isn't like crochet or knitting or even sewing. It is nearly impossible to Frog or rip the piece apart. So here we are, stuck with another square bag. On the bright side, I really like the texture of the fabric. The  loom used is chained off with a crochet slip stitch and that leaves the project with a nice decorative seam. I will be trying this bag again. And I am so hoping I am not doomed to repeat the square bag again.

Next stop... Weaverdale.. The Lopsided Bag!

There are many and varied roads in Craftland, and they all lead to strange and interesting little villages.

 Usually, I'm happy to hang in Crochetville, a lot of my friends hang there too, so I have company.  Sometimes, I make a few stops in Spinnerton, for a weekend getaway. However, one does occasional need to mix things up, so this weekend I took a trip to Weaverdale.

 I have several looms. It's just that with my day job (otr truck driver) weaving isn't really a practical thing to bring along. However, I finally found a couple of smaller looms that are perfect for this application. I started this project in Indianapolis on a layover back in October and haven't worked on it since. As the Foot of Doom is still on its Purple Prison I've decided to go ahead and work on the rest of it, just for a change.

 The loom is a Harrisville Design lap loom. (http://www.harrisville.com/) It’s a basic under-over type of loom, you can use a needle or a shuttle, I preferred the needle. I found it on Amazon and they're fairly cheap. It's a kids beginner loom, but I don’t care as I'm a beginner myself. I don't have a pattern I'm using. I made this one up myself. It's fairly basic so I can't claim to be super original or anything. It was a little annoying getting the hang of the whole thing. I kept pulling the weft  ( that's the yarn that goes horizontal) too tight and ending up with an hourglass shape. I had to pull it out and start over again. But I guess that's part of the learning process.

I'm using a 4 ply cotton, instead of the wool that came with the kit. And yes, it's a leftover lot of yarn. Will I ever use that stuff up? I still have this teeny tiny ball of the stuff left. I'm begining to thing elves are coming in when I'm asleep and making more of the stuff. Hmm, actually, given the price of yarn, that's not such a bad deal.

I took a bunch of pictures because I was just so tickled to be actually weaving on a loom. Unfortunately, this means you all have to suffer through them! Muahahaha!

The peice on the right is the one I did in indy

I was just going to have it a sandwich style





Then I decided it needed sides

And a bottom, then I lined it for support



 

 

 

 

Anyhow, here it is.

 

I like it,even though it's very rough and a little lopsided.  I’m sure I’ll get better in the future, but it’s not so bad for a first effort. I’m giving it to my Lady. I’m pretty sure she’ll be entertained by the effort. I hope you all are too!