Crimes against crochet

I went to the library last night and was browsing the craft section when I found a real gem of a book. Without delay I decided to get the photos I took of the works of textile genius contained in the book onto the blog. I figure it's Friday and everyone could use a good laugh before the weekend.

I've rarely laughed as much at a book before. The front cover is on the left and reveals that the book is called 'Glorious Crocheted Sweaters'. Glorious indeed. The model does look a little dubious though don't you think? Maybe that is because of the giant colourwork cardigan she is trying to rock. The neck tie isn't really adding anything here is it? To me it looks like a paper napkin that she forgot to remove after having some lunch.

Anyway onwards and upwards we have many more 'glorious' sweaters to see...

This looks warm but that's about the only thing you can say in it's favour. And if you have a thing for crocheting crazy clashing tartans then don't worry you can also clothe your children in them. You can use a lovely fuzzy mohairy yarn too and don't worry it won't fit them either. I'm sure these jumpers weigh like a million kilos as well as being stiff like a board due to the colourwork.  

 
Now on to something a little lighter and more suitable for summer.

Words almost fail me. What sort of a pose it that? I'm no fan of yellow and red together and this ensemble really isn't going to convince me. Also this is supposed to be a summer garment. I'm sure it's made of acrylic yarn too, this means if you wore this on a hot day you'd most likely melt and die both from embarrassment and heat exhaustion.

 
I love the look of the model in this picture. You can almost hear the thoughts inside her head. 'I'm sorry my child but yes I did crochet us matching pastel chevron stitch jumpers and now I'm trying to pretend to everyone that this was a good idea and that we look fabulous but I know we are living a lie. You poor innocent thing, you did nothing to deserve this.'

An aran style jumper is necessity in the snow and when teamed with ear muffs you will be warm and stylish. Sadly your dog on seeing you will slump into an existential ennui and lie on the ground and refuse to move.

Sadly we're at the last photo I took of the 'glorious' crocheted sweaters. I think I have saved the best for last though. By best I actually mean damaging, if you saw this picture and decided that really it would have been better for the world if crochet was never invented I can't say I'd blame you. The world might have been better off if we were all still wandering around butt naked than clothe ourselves in sweaters such as the ones you are about to see.

These poor poor children? Where are they now? What untold damage did this modeling assignment do to them? Did they ever get counseling? Are they sitting forgotten in some mental institution blabbering to themselves about the pain and trauma of being made dress like this? I wish I knew.

I suppose I must now provide you with a link to Amazon should you wish to rush out and purchase this classic of textile design. Actually for further laughs read the reviews. Most of them are positive! I hope there aren't people out there inflicting these designs that time forgot on their loved ones in this day and age.

All sewn up

I got a new sewing machine! It's from Lidl and cost eighty euro. I've been using my Mum's sewing machine rather too much so she got me one of my own for my birthday. It works great and is pretty simple which is better for me, when a sewing machine gets too complicated it's hard to use.

I've done a good bit of sewing over the years, as a kid my Barbies and Sindys all had couture outfits made from scraps left over from my Mum's sewing. My Mum is my secret weapon when sewing as she knows everything there is to know about sewing. She made her own wedding dress and lots of our clothes when we were kids. She works in a home furnishing shop and brings home loads of fabric with the excuse but it was cheap. I've gotten all my new curtains made by my Mum.

I want to make skirts as I never see skirts I like in the shops and they're not that hard to make. I decided to listen to my Mum who is always right about everything and make some cushions first. These are the mad looking cushions I like them a lot, they'll come camping with us this summer and brighten up the tent. I picked up the lovely colourful throw to go with them in Heatons for ten euro. I can almost sew straight but I'm really terrible at cutting straight. I can see a rotary cutter and a ruler in my future. Cutting wonky is ok on a cushion but not on a skirt.



I've got one or two sewing books recently. First of all is Sew What? Skirts. It's a great starter book about sewing as it goes through lots of techniques at the start. Then it shows you how to draft an a-line and straight skirt pattern. All the skirts are then made using variations on these techniques. The first skirt I make will be one from this book.

The other book is Weekend Sewing by Heather Ross. I love this book! It's all laid back easy style, nothing too fussy. The other advantage is that it's all aimed at the beginning/intermediate sewer. Hopefully I'll make some stuff from this.

I went shopping today and got some fabric in Fabric World on Parnell Street. I got some lovely navy and pink stuff to make a skirt and some lovely white flowery fabric to make this spring ruffle top. I also got lots of bits and pieces like thread, tracing paper and elastic thread in The Dublin Woolen Mills just beside the Hapenny Bridge. Expect to see some results on the blog in the future.

An afternoon of felting

A while back I got two great craft books on sale in the local bookshop. Natural Dyeing and Creative Felting which I got mostly for it's great photography and use of colour. As I read it dawned on me that I had everything needed for felting lying around the house. The main ingredient is wool fibre and having taken up spinning I have plenty of that around. I had also got some fibre for needle felting a while ago. The other equipment is pretty simple and is lying around most houses, bubble wrap, rolling pin, plastic sheeting and a towel.

I haven't needle felted much stuff as I'm too good at stabbing myself with the needle. Also needle felting seems to be more suited to embellishing and decorating felted and knitted pieces than for making large pieces.

First I laid down a towel and put a piece of bubble wrap on top of it. I then pulled out the fibre and laid it on the bubble wrap. All fibres go one way for the first layer then the next layer goes perpendicular to the first. Then I laid a piece of muslin cloth over the fibres and wet them with hot soapy water. Then I pressed down and made sure it was wet through.


That done I peeled off the cloth and put a piece of plastic over the fibres. Then it's a matter of rubbing and rubbing until the fibres mat together. When they've matted enough no fibres will lift up when pinched. It should be looking more like a piece of cloth now. I added a bit more hot soapy water to help it along.

I then rolled up the bubble wrap, felt and plastic around a rolling pin and drained out the water. Here's a photo of that plus some felt beads I made as well, the tutorial for how to make them is in Knitty, they're really easy to make. I then rolled the felt about 50 times in all directions. I turned it around and around until it really started to felt and get smaller. I rinsed it in very hot water and rubbed it on the bubble wrap some more until it looked good and strong with little stretch.

I then had my finished bit of felt. I am aware it looks like something a five year old would produce. Not a very creative first attempt, blue sky, green grass and flowers. I'm quite proud of it though, at least it worked and now i can go on to make more felt. I may try a slightly more grown up looking design next time.

It's quite amazing how hot soapy water and agitation can turn fluffy fibre into something dense and matted with completely different properties.



Photo Album Link

Gloria, I think I got your number

There is no justification, I can make excuses like it's my 30th birthday next month, it's a natural progression from a spindle, the price is going up soon, the free lazy kate offer ends next month etc etc. There are no excuses as I need another hobby like I need a hole in the head. A spinning wheel is a big expensive thing to buy when really nobody needs a spinning wheel anymore. I don't know why watching twist run up into fibre that's being pulled out is so mesmerizing and addictive. But now I have a spinning wheel and I can watch it for years to come.

I spent a while researching wheels and eventually having looked at lots of articles like this one in Knitty by the talented font of spinning knowledge Abby Fraquemont I decided on the Louet Julia. It's the newest Louet wheel with scotch tension, lots of ratios (which are kinda like bicycle gears) so you can spin many types of yarn on it and it is from a reliable company known for making solid long lasting wheels. Also it comes with a tensioned lazy kate and is going up in price soon so the time seemed right to buy it.

The very helpful and nice lady at Scottish Fibres where I purchased it also recommended the wheel to me. I can really recommend this company. They answered all my questions about the wheel, they stock a great range of fibres and the postage to Ireland for such a big heavy object was very reasonable.

Here's a look in the box.



It comes flat packed. There's an instruction book and a set of tools with the wheel so putting it together couldn't have been easier. It's actually no more than screwing a few bits together. Even the most flat pack phobic should have no trouble putting it together.



Here she is all set up. Isn't she pretty? I think it's a really lovely wheel. I like the modern upright look and the engineering of it is superb. So simple with no unnecessary parts. Notice the little collie toy, Scottish Fibres included him as a wheel mascot for free. A lovely touch I thought.



When I started thinking of getting a wheel I got a few spinning books. I got Start Spinning by Maggie Casey which is a great introduction. She explains spinning really clearly and she also explains how to set up a spinning wheel which was really useful. I like this book a lot, there's not too much detail to confuse you with and she manages to explain something very visual in clear written terms which is no mean feat.

I also got Colour In Spinning by Deb Menz. This is a more advanced book that I'll use when I start dying and putting colours together in my spinning. It's like a textbook, there's so much information and the large format of the book makes it all very clear. There's a great explanation of colour at the start and the book is worth it for this alone. There's more than that though, she explains dying, carding and combing to mix fibres. A great addition to the library.



So back to the wheel. It spins like a dream. It's double treadle and it's so easy to treadle. They say you should always try a wheel before you buy as you might not like it. I didn't have that option but thankfully I love this wheel. It seems to suit me. I spent a while just treadling and changing the ratios and the brake band to get a feel for the wheel. Since then I've been practicing every day. I'm now getting the hang of it a bit more I think. Since I had the spindle I found the drafting ok. I have to remember to let the yarn feed onto the bobbin and to treadle slowly. I think I'm nearly at the point where I can try a full project.

When I was reading about spinning wheels lots of people mentioned that your wheel has to have a name. Celtic Memory has a lovely post about the arrival of her new wheel and the search for a name for her.

A lot of people also mentioned that you can't just name your wheel, you have to spend time with it and at the right moment the wheel will tell you it's rightful name. I didn't really believe this and was all set just to call the wheel Julia as that's the name on the box. Well my wheel had other ideas. I was bringing it downstairs last night and the name Gloria popped into my head and won't leave. So her name is Gloria.

A&E Ale

Happy new year everyone!

My 2008 had an interesting end. I ended up in hospital on Stephen's night. A&E isn't a great place to be as you get tests and wait for a bed at three in the morning. They thought I had a lung blood clot so they kept me in to do some tests. A CT showed I had pneumonia. Last time I went to hospital I ended up staying there for two months so to get away with pneumonia really wasn't so bad. The hospital had an outbreak of the winter vomiting bug so no visitors were allowed. That was as bad as it sounds. Relatives could leave food parcels and supplies at the front door. It did feel like a scene from a Dickens novel. The nurse felt sorry for me as I had no chocolate as my bag of supplies hadn't arrived so she gave me some emergency Roses from the nurses supply.

Luckily my Mum delivered my latest crochet project along with books and proper food. It's the Alpine Frost Scarf from Interweave Crochet Magazine which I subscribed to. It's a good price for the year and as a bonus it was delivered just in time for Christmas. The patterns are lovely, some crochet patterns aren't great but the ones in this magazine are gorgeous. I had a skein of Lorna's Laces Lion and Lion in the colorway purple iris so I decided to make it into the scarf. Since Lion and Lamb is worsted weight and the pattern is for lace weight yarn I modified the pattern to give the width scarf I wanted and used a bigger hook.



One of the old ladies on the ward was very impressed with the scarf. I think in this yarn and colour it looks like seaweed or something. The Lion and Lamb yarn is an expensive treat but I'm not sure it's worth it. The start of the scarf has gone a bit fuzzy and I haven't even finished it yet. It might not wear so well. Manos del Uruguay silk blend is the same type of yarn with beautiful colours and it's cheaper. I know it wears well since a cowl I made from it a year ago is still going strong despite constant wear.



The hospital food was awful as usual but was made all the worse knowing I was missing all the lovely christmas leftovers. At tea time I was so glad I'd been sent a bag of cheese and onion crisps as it livened up the plain cheese sandwich and tea. This is the first year I didn't eat christmas pudding every day for a week. I suppose it's a head start on the new years diet.





On christmas day I did have some nice christmas beers. The Anchor christmas ale was lovely and went very well with the turkey and ham. I think the Samichlaus was maybe a little heavy with the pudding. Though at that stage I was pretty full so maybe I should try that combination again.

I got home on the monday but had to go back in to hospital on tuesday as I had an allergic reaction to the antibiotics. I've had anaphylaxis from antibiotics before so I was taking no chances this time. I've resolved not to get sick again after this so I don't need antibiotics anymore. Thankfully by wednesday evening I was ok with my new antibiotic and was sent home. I had a very quiet new years eve with no beer or parties but it was nice all the same. My christmas ale stash is quite intact. I'm with Boak and Bailey in thinking that january is a ludicrous time of year to contemplate giving up beer. We need something to cheer us up in this dark cold month.

I decided to name my Kolsch A&E Ale after my adventures. Unfortunately when I got back to Dublin I discovered that the better bottle I was storing it in had leaked. There is some left but it doesn't look very good, it's turned brown. The bottle leaked as the valve wasn't closed properly. Lesson learned: make sure you hear a click when you close the high flow valve.

Better luck in 2009 eh?

Hearing in Colour and Crochet

I have been thinking about designing my own knitting and crochet patterns recently. I used to have a lovely hand knitted hat which I lost. Since I knit now I'm going to design something similar since I can't find a pattern like it. I also want a crochet shrug and haven't seen one I really like so the obvious answer is to design one.
I got The Crochet Stitch Bible which should help with this as it has loads of stitch patterns, edgings, lace and blocks to choose from. It's a great reference book for any crocheter. I especially like that all the designs are done using crochet symbols which I find much easier to understand than written crochet instructions. Crochet is 3D so the symbols suit it much more than written instructions.
Anyway that was what I was thinking about this week. I was at Kraftwerk on saturday night and had a rather strange experience. I've always seen music as colours and shapes. But the other night I started seeing the music as crochet stitch symbols with colours. It was kinda strange and I've never seen music like that before. And before anyone gets any ideas, I wasn't drunk or under the influence of anything. I think it might be good to try listening to a song a load of times and see if I can write down what I see in crochet symbols and colours and then make it. Certain sounds to me always have certain colours and shapes. Like drums are usually brown and quite squiggly and guitars are spiky and sometimes green or yellow. It could be a pretty interesting project.

Knitting New Mittens And Gloves - Robin Melanson

Knitting New Mittens and Gloves by Robin Melanson. I love this book! A lot of knitting books have a selection of patterns which can be annoying. If say you love the sweater pattern and the hat pattern and buy the book you end up with patterns for things you don't want. So I really like this approach of having a book that is about one thing, you know what you're getting. The patterns in this book are great really different and not just standard gloves, mittens and handwarmers. I especially like where the author introduces each project with a description of the glove and what inspired it and the name. I haven't knit a full glove before and so as part of the Ravelry Olympics I'm going to knit a pair of gloves from this book. I hope to make the Ceangaltas mittens during the summer olympics. I bought some lovely Lamb's Pride wool today in two different shades so hopefully it'll turn out well.

Knitting

It rained all last summer and I couldn't do many of my outdoor hobbies so I did a lot of crochet and it was only a matter of time before I started knitting again too. Since Debbie Stoller's crochet book had been so good I decided to get Stitch and Bitch: The Knitter's Handbook. For good measure I also got Stitch and Bitch Nation also by Ms. Stoller. Stitch and Bitch is a great beginners book with lots of clear instructions about how to do just about everything you will ever need to while knitting. I refer to it all the time whenever I can't remember how to do things like ssk. Stitch and Bitch Nation is more about patterns and how to make your knit clothes fit you. It's very good also. I haven't made any jumpers from it but the information is very useful. Now that I remembered how to knit I decided to try a jumper.

I found another wool shop in Waterford on Patrick St called Needles and Pins. They stock a good range of wool including Sirdar, Patons and Wendy. They also stock a great selection of crochet hooks, knitting needles and stuff for tapestry. I bought a Sirdar Denim Knits pattern book and 7 balls of Sirdar Denim Chunky. With my Mum's help over the next few months I finished a cardigan. It's really nice and wearable too.

Hats Off

Back in August last year I got this idea that I would crochet. I don't know why as I hated crochet when I learned it first when young. I made one granny square that was going to be a cushion cover. It was supposed to be two matching squares but I got half way through the second one and gave up. I still have it and maybe I'll finish it eventually
I bought Debbie Stoller's crochet book The Happy Hooker. I'd recommend this book as it has lots of funky projects and the instructions on how to crochet are the best I've seen. A lot of crochet books are old fashioned and feature awful stuff in bad colours but this is different. I then needed wool and crochet hooks. These were more difficult to find than you would imagine. In the pound shop I got a ball of white acrylic to practice on and I found an old crochet hook of mine and tried out some stitches. I found a wool shop in Blackrock, Dublin called This Is Knit. This is a lovely shop run by two nice ladies who knit themselves, they stock all sorts of lovely wool like Noro and Debbie Bliss. So now armed with wool I started making some stuff.

Spring in Winter Hat:

This turned out well although I haven't worn it too much since I'm not a huge fan of red.

Fat Bottomed Bag:

This bag is also from The Happy Hooker and it's lovely. I was on holidays when I made this and it made long car journeys pass quickly.

I also got some wool donated to me. I got a few balls of purpleish mohair and so I used that to make the Cold Shoulders Capelet from The Happy Hooker. This got left on the back burner for a while but it eventually got finished. It was much easier to make than I thought it would be.