Textile Thursday - Crochet Cowl

This Textile Thursday is a little late and my apologies for that. The bunny doctor has been and gone and today I finally get to show you my first ever crochet shawl - Pia!!!

Pia

This pattern is a free ravelry crochet pattern by Pia Linden which you can find here. I really enjoyed this pattern and it took away a few of my feelings of dread towards crochet. First of all, my comfort zone is knitting and my ventures into weaving and crochet have allowed me to expand my craftiness. When I weave or learn a new crochet technique I get that butterfly feeling in my stomach that for some reason does not exist  when I knit. I love learning new things and this pattern helped me grasp the techniques used to create a triangular crochet shawl. I also learned how to do crochet nupps!!!!!!!

Look .....cnupps!!!

So with this pattern under my belt, I have ventured forth in to Pax by Aoibhe Ni.  I love Aoibhe's patterns   and Snapdragon is THE reason I took up a crochet hook (this has mostly to do with it hanging in This is Knit for a few weeks waving its gorgeous Hedgehog Fibre colours at me). I was daunted by the idea of using charts and crochet lace but with the help of her online videos and well constructed patterns I suddenly found that I was working some very beautiful tunsian crochet in BFL by Hedgehog Fibre. 

Pax - under construction

I was trying to get a good photo of how well this pattern suits the variation of the yarn, alas my apartment is still the dark pit of Dublin that it has always been, even on a bright day like today. So I tried to zoom in and take a picture for you to have an idea. I am very confident that this will block well and will show off the short rows beautifully but for now this is the best picture I could get. (Yes I really need to do the photography class by Elven and Jewelndarlin. 

Close up of BFL

I really hope that my wrist holds up and that I can finish this by next Thursday - eep

See you then
N

Textile Thursday - May

This Textile Thursday I am going to share with you just a little about a woman who is very close to my heart. I know some of you hear every now and again about my troubles in sourcing rug wool and canvas for May (the absolute matriarch of our family). You hear her name mentioned daily and at 92 years of age I can safely say that she does in fact still run our family. You can only imagine the life this lady has had but today I am going to stick to her creative side. 

Painting

Ever since I was a little girl, May has taught me how to knit, sew (I didn't take to this), embroider (I didn't take to this either) and how to make latch hook rugs. She has also taught me how to clean, run a house, bake and just about anything else you can imagine. To put this into perspective May was already in her  seventies at this point.  Because of where I live now I only have 3 of her pieces of work due to the fact that I am terrified that something will happen to them. The painting that you can see above was given to me on my 25th birthday and she took 5 weeks to paint, but only on Thursdays :) 

May being 92, ensures me that in fact the social scene in Dundalk, is on Thursday's, where she attends a social group for the elderly within the Louth County Hospital's day centre. She has quite the collection of paintings now but most of them have either been sold (to help fund the centre) or have been...... lets say acquired by family members via birthdays, gifts etc.  What really shocks me is that May has never painted until her later years. Her husband, in fact was the painter and artist in the family, there is even a local award named after him. He unfortunately passed away quite young and early into their marriage but we have a fair few pieces painted by him around our family home. 

Grey Rug 

Although her painting took root later in life, May has always knitted and handmade rugs. Ever since she was a little girl helping to take care of a big family of brothers and sisters, she was eager to learn and work with her hands. The rug above May made in under a week from Drops Eskimo and some canvas I found in The Woolen Mills in Dublin. The one below she made in 2 weeks from the same materials just different colours. She cut the wool into pieces by hand and knotted them singularly on to the canvas. So each tuft you see in the pictures was placed carefully into place by her.  The template / tester rug below is a smaller version of the massive rug that is under construction at home. This lady has in reality 'done it all'. The only wool craft May has never taken too was spinning fibre. She has washed fleece and assures me she just never had a taste for it. 

Template

The one thing that I admire most is that May has never let age affect where she has wanted to go, what she has wanted to turn her hand too or stop her from working on the crafts that she loves. I can assure you that this morning she has already cut some wool for her rug before getting ready to head on up to the day centre to finish her current painting of the Seatown Castle in Dundalk. Although she has had many things thrown at her throughout her life she has never once allowed them to define her or stop her from doing what she loves. I only hope that in my years to come I am blessed with the same life longevity and that I can still be working on crafts. 

May and my dad enjoying a well deserved glass of champagne on her 91st birthday

                                       

Textile Thursday - Woven Project Bag

Just before her bath-time

This week I have been working on a new project bag. This was a little tough as I have never warped my loom with cotton before and especially not knitting cotton. With this in mind I did not want to spend a fortune on her so I grabbed some Ianthe (which I got on sale) and Sublime Egyptian cotton which is under 5 euro and a grab bag from Hickey's for 3 euro and I got to work. 

I used Ianthe only in my warp and used a 7.5dpi reed. This is a sturdy fabric and holds together really well. I worked in some danish medallions at the top of the bag for 2 inches using the egyptian cotton. The sublime cotton is mercerised and really shiny so this catches the light really well. I then striped in the sublime cotton every 4th picks for 2 picks and I used Ianthe for the rest of the weft. I also found some blue scrap fabric in my grab bag which I used to line the bag. (My sewing skills are terrible and I will be joining the sewing group on Friday the 25th of May) At the moment I am really not that happy with my handles or the top of my bag so I will be changing these as soon as I can find some nice bamboo ones. 

stripy lining 

The only other project I have to post about at the moment is my Noro cowl. Do you remember a few weeks ago I posted about my weaving terror? Well look at her now:

Noro Cowl

I used my new sewing machine and over locked the frayed ends where the hole had been. I then seamed the two new ends and turned them so I have an infinity cowl, my very first woven infinity cowl. I am going to wear her with pride today :) 

Textile Thursday - Alpaca Blanket Day

Blanket

Yip I'm getting a little bit liberal when I call this a throw, this is really a large toddler blanket and measures 35 by 48 inches. This really didn't take any time to weave at all but oh man the hem stitching! After soaking in her luxury bath this blanket bloomed and turned into a really soft piece. This is my first ever blanket so I'm very proud of her.

Now I tried my best to get some good photos of her but the dungeon of darkness we live in (she is a beautiful duplex but really dark) and these are the best two:

Hanging on the couch

This one I  tried to capture the texture of the blanket so please forgive the blurring:

Folded

Now I did try with these photos, the grey in the blanket is just crazy when it comes to light. The light just bounces right off it and because this place is so dark sometimes thats impossible not to use a flash. Now I hear you, I could have gone outside to what use to be a lovely area, now it's full of diggers and builders on all four sides and EVERYTHING has that thin film of dust on it because of that dang wind :( So I can safely say I am not taking her out there for a photo. 

I'll take her on a picnic soon just so we can take some lovely pictures of her.

See you next week
N

Textile Thursday *ahem* and Weaving Questions Answered

Ok so this Thursday kind of snuck up on me, I have been sick for most of the week so most of my work is still exactly where it was a week ago. My weaving scarf still isn't fixed and my knitting has not progressed an inch! So I will leave you with a short post and a wonderful picture of my loom FULLY warped!! 

Warp still attached to dowel

and on the loom

Isn't she gorgeous????? This yarn is an alpaca boucle yarn in blue, navy and grey. When this grows up it will be a toddler blanket of 32" x 42" and snuggly to boot. I am however a bit fearful that it will be too much like a towel but we will see. The yarn has been sitting in my stash for about a year now and its time to shine has come. (I was going to use a Logan's Run phrase here but I figured my sense of humour is an acquired one and I don't know you guys well enough yet!)

I guess I should use this post to answer some of the questions I have been getting about looms.

Is it really expensive?

To buy the loom like anything else it can be budgeted to what you can afford. You don't have to go for a 32 inch or 42 inch loom. Mine was around 190 euro but its the second biggest Rigid Heddle you can buy. The smaller looms are cheaper.

Weaving itself is as expensive as you make it. My Brown Sheep scarf was under 10 euro with the beads. the Noro scarf was 17.95 and done in an afternoon and my Opal scarf was just under ten. Yes my Christmas this year is sorted :)

Is it really difficult? 

No not really, I completely agree with most people that if you can knit you can weave. The thought process is similar, instead of using maths to size a garment to fit you, you size a rectangle or a square to what you want. Mostly its time, patience and logic is all you need. If your looking for a particular type of math or calculation for a project, I will do my best to point you in the right direction, remember Excel is your friend.

There are some great blog posts out there on weaving math and calculating warp and weft so I really don't want to take away from them. Haley Studio has an online calculator here and of course Weavolution has one here. Feministy has some Excel spreadsheets here just to name a few :)

I have a loom but I just can't put it together....

There are many manuals on the internet. Most importantly you need to find the manufactures mark, name or brand of your loom. All Ashford looms come with step by step instructions and then some YouTube videos just in case you *loose* the instructions, so I really can't recommend these guys enough though there are other types of looms out there. In this case search engines are your friend and you can always throw a post up on the forums of Weavolution, these guys are great. 

 Here in Ireland its hard to get your hands on a supplier so this is generally the limiting factor. Kromski (harp), Schacht and Cricket are all different brands of looms and obviously different prices. If your interested there are many comparison sites out there from people who have woven on a few looms for example spinninglizzy has some great pictures on the Kromski and Schacht looms. 

Can I weave with any yarn?

Well this depends on your loom, in particular your heddle (or reed) the dpi indicated on your reed with tell you the thickness of yarn (wpi) that you can use.  The knitters loom in particular comes with wide dents so that knitting yarn can be used, though some worsted weight and chunky yarns are going to give you an almost bulletproof fabric. So yes you can use your stash if you want. I know Master weavers will say that RH looms or lap looms are toys and in comparison to their art they are but your loom is either your profession or your hobby and how you use it is up to you. Craft is all about trial and error and don't let anyone tell you any differently, as long as your having fun and enjoying your project then keep on loomin'.

Are there Weaving patterns?

Yes they are called drafts and you can download some free ones from interweave from http://www.weavingtoday.com/. Ravelry has not opened up on drafts yet (crosses fingers and wishes really hard they will soon) but there is a section on peoples project pages where you can see what drafts they used. Again I'll point you in the direction of  Weavolution for some more drafts. 

Reading weaving charts is another matter entirely so I suggest taking a class if your really interested.

:) And that is it for today folks...

Please leave a comment if you have any more questions, I'll be more than happy to point you in a direction if I don't know the answer. 

Textile Thursday - The Weaving Terror

What my scarf should look like, all 70 inches of her

Ok so that moment has arrived, you know the one. You start to get that sick feeling in your stomach, a tingling in your spine that keeps on growing. Yip, you f***ed up badly and now there is no going back.

So its Monday night, I was taking my new lovely handwoven scarf out of the sink and I snagged it on the chain for the stopper. Do not ask me how on earth I did it but I did. I went through the motions of any craft person who looses a piece......... anger, sadness, grief and then finally and bitterly, acceptance. I messed up and now I have to fix it.

 A couple of deep breathes later, I scoured the internet for ways to fix a woven textile to no avail. I came up with the idea of searching for alternative finishes to my scarf but where the rip occurred will not allow me to work some magic. I let the now broken scarf, dry. I knew this would allow the weft yarn to fluff up and create more stability around the area. I had this idea that I could create a new hem and then sew the new fabric together to form a circular scarf. Well they are on trend at the moment but it somehow did not make the loss of the rest of my fabric, that I had worked hard on, any better.

What she does look like, all 35 inches of her :(

Tuesday, after the piece dried, I rolled the new loose ends in on themselves and cross stitched them for support. I know they won't unravel as some textiles are finished this way. Two very tedious hours later I had two finished hems which needed to be sewn together. The only thing niggling at me is that the scarf is now too short to be a scarf. It has to be a circular scarf or a child's scarf and there is no way that this twenty euro a ball silk garden scarf, was going to a child that is certain. Also if I sew these ends together they will be lumpy and the knitter inside of me is screaming (honestly throwing a tantrum) because seaming should not take away from your finished object. There has to be some way of attaching these two pieces together without forming a quadruple layer of fabric. 

Right back to mulling it over and an idea sprung in the back of my mind that I instantly dismissed. Wednesday morning came and the idea was still there and after my second cup of coffee I said "Ah, why not it can't get any worse" Yes, yes I did. I said that to myself. I think I must be the only person who thinks that things have hit rock bottom and in fact you realise that there is a whole bottomless pit beneath the "bottom" you think you have smacked your head off............

Yes I'm going to make you wait till next week to find out more ;)
N

Loom Day!

Today, Sunday the 15th of April was Loom Day and for me I have been waiting for a long time for today. For my 30th birthday (which is in May) J asked me if there was anything that I would like. I was thinking hummm spinning wheel and J said no we don't have the space so jokingly I said loom and he said "huh, erh ok I guess" Those where the famous last words.

We looked online to see what was available and I love Ashford products and I was looking at the knitters loom that folds but it only goes to 20 inches and I was thinking 'Well if I get a loom I'm probably going to want to weave not just scarves but cushion covers and more textile home things out of my stash' so in the end I decided on the Ridgid Heddle 32 inch loom. Mostly because we were thinking that it would fit under the bed (and just in case your wondering it does!!)

Loom from the box

I very nicely asked Lisa in This is Knit if I could order the loom and two weeks later I was bringing home my loom. It was meant to be, prefect timing as I was at my lowest with everything going on. As soon as I got home I shoved the furniture in the living room aside and ripped open the box. The above picture are the contents of the box and 45 minutes later I had this beauty:

32 inch loom fully assembled

I have absolutely no problem recommending an Ashford loom. It came with very detailed assembly instructions, weaving patterns for 4 types of loom and for some handspun yarns, a buyers catalogue for wheels and looms and most importantly a card with the name and photo of the person who packed and made my loom! Another lovely touch is on their website Ashford have a series of tutorials on how to use their products so you are not left with a wheel or loom that you got as a present and can't use.

Saturday evening I set up a warp with Silk Garden Sock which you can see in the picture below isn't it beautiful!

Silk Garden Sock

It was so addictive J had to have a go (I know it was my present but J was fascinated with how it worked)

J Weaving

Sunday I sat in my PJ's watching T.V. and just wove. I used silk garden as both the warp and weft yarn. Now at this point I would like to say that I mis-calculated *ahem* the amount of weft yarn I would need. I had assumed that I had 400 meters of yarn but silk garden is 300 meters. So I ran out of yarn with about 50 meters to go ( I had taken into account the waste from the fringe process), so I dived into my stash and found some pure hand spun wool that I inherited from a friend's mum. It was perfect!

Scarf pre - washing

I finished weaving after about 3 hours, I wasn't weaving constantly. I stopped for lunch and tea breaks but I was pulling a scarf off my new loom pretty soon after I started!. I let it soak in warm water with a little bit of conditioner and out came this beauty below. I am thrilled with my loom and my new scarf! The silk garden was a perfect choice the texture is amazing and the colour changes are subtle and light. I can't wait to try another colourway.

Scarf post - washing

Textile Thursday - L. Hogan Batt #5

Textile Thursday - have a peek at the fibre I'm using this week....  

L. Hogan Batt

Today's post is going to be a little different in that I want to share with you my experience with L. Hogan's  No Rhyme No Reason Batt #5. I am fairly new to spinning and I have been encouraged by a large number of knitters and spinners here in Dublin to learn. Most of all during Laura's visits to the spinning groups and the shop, I was entranced by her colorways in her rovings, but lets start at the beginning. 

Ashford Roving

I knit a lot and was toying with the idea of rovings to learn how to spin. I started with the Ashford silk and merino roving  which  was smooth and the silk content allowed me to learn how to draft  quite easily. You can read more about my experience here. 

Corridale Homespun. 

I moved on to some Corridale I also got at This is Knit while I was suppose to be tidying skeins, the blue colours in the roving started to beg me to take them home. You know that kind of begging where it looks at you from its nestling place on the shelf and no matter where you go, you can feel it looking at you. By the time my shift was over it was almost screaming "I'll never find a good home if you don't take me...." So I said "fine in my bag you go then" (with more than a little encouragement form Lisa) and off I went.  I got home and before I had dinner I was spinning this fibre, I spun all 50 grams in one night and I was hooked. 

Merino Roving by FiberArtemis

I started looking at some hand dyed roving on Etsy and I found some beautiful options like Waterlily and the Merino Roving as you can see here but I wanted to support Irish craft and on Etsy that leaves very little choice. 

Waterlily by NalaniYarns  

As soon as I clicked the option, I was kicking myself for not remembering the Spin in Sundays. I have seen jumpers / accessories knit out of Laura's spun roving and all of them have been mesmerising. I had a browse through her shop and found that she had some batts up for sale. This was great, I don't have a huge amount of experience and I didn't want to jump into buying a huge amount of roving so the batt was a good choice. I ordered it and it was in my hand the next day (which is amazing because it was Good Friday) so I was up to a great Easter start. 

L. Hogan Batt

Laura's roving has some amazing colours and with some Angelina thrown in for an added sparkle. I thought I was going to have a challenge as these batts Laura carded herself are called No Rhyme No Reason for the sheer randomness of fiber and colour in each batt. As it was detailed on Etsy, each batt is unique and some batts could be very textural due to Wensleydale locks that she dyed and threw in. However spinning this batt was fun, I loved watching the colour ways form before my eyes and depending on how you separate the batt you could even get some colour repeats spun too. I loved working with this so much I even have some of Laura's Blue Faced Leicester in my stash now too (along with a huge amount of her sock yarn, yes I have a problem)

If you are interested, check out her shop on etsy here and I'm going to tempt you with some roving just because I can. :) Have a great weekend. 

Batt No. 6

Batt No. 4

Wensleydale

Textile Thursday - Mirasol Hacho

Textile Thursday - have a peek at the fibre I'm using this week....  

©  T. Bunny Knits

Yarn name: 

Hacho

Manufacturer:

Mirasol

Fiber content:

100% Merino.

Gauge:

20 sts by 22 rows=4 inches / 10 cm on 4mm(US 6).

Weight/yardage per skein:

50g / 127 yards (135m).

Construction:

Plied

Country of origin:

Peru

Manufacturer's suggested wash method:

Handwash garment with care and dry flat.

Average Retail Price: 

€7.95 / 50g skein. I purchased this yarn here.

For those of you who have not heard of Mirasol yarns before let me introduce you to the Mirasol yarns here. What I love about these yarns is that by purchasing these yarns, a portion of your money actually supports Shepards and families in Peru and a portion of each purchase makes its way to a centre for disadvantaged children in Munani and April 2009 saw the official opening of the school. If you want to read more about this wonderful work please check out the Mirasol project here and of course their blog here.

Swatching:

First of all anyone who knows me knows that I am fairly new to crochet and when taking my first crochet class I was drawn to Hacho. Now, any of you who crochet generally shy away from variegated yarns due to pooling but I stood my ground. I swatched during the course of the class and loved how the colours sat around the treble stitches.

© T. Bunny Knits

I liked the yarn so much I brought it home and knitted a swatch on 4mm needles.The yarn has an amazing amount of spring to it and is quite tightly plied. Obtaining the gauge was easy and the stitch definition was so clear I wanted to cable with it. However looking at my swatch the next day I decided to continue with crochet rather than a knitted garment.  

Washing and Blocking:

The manufactures label suggests hand washing which I did and the knitted swatch did relax almost instantly. It  held gauge after washing and easily took the shape of whatever I pinned it in to, though there really was no need for blocking it was a perfect square after washing. 

Knitting and Pattern Choices: 

The Mirasol Hacho book 25 by Jane Ellison has some beautiful knitted pieces from full garments to accessories as you can see below. I know I'm having trouble deciding between Nazca and Tarma. 

Tumi © Mirasol

Tarma © Mirasol

 Suri © Mirasol

Nazca © Mirasol

Ravelry has a host of Mirasol Hacho projects which you can find here. Most of these projects that have comments agree that Hacho is a joy to knit with and they are not wrong! 

Overall View: 

I really believe this yarn is a hidden gem. The colours may be a little too variegated for some people but there are colourways available that will suit almost everyone. At 7.95e a hank it is a yarn that most people will use for accessories rather than a full garment but this yarn is sold at fair prices and supports communities. I know I will definitely use it in future. 

© T. Bunny Knits

Aside: My personal project in Hacho was  this beautiful crochet cowl

Textile Thursday - Studio Donegal 2ply

Textile Thursday - have a peek at the fibre I'm using this week....  

© Studio Donegal

Yarn name: 

Merino 2-ply.

Manufacturer:

Donegal Yarns (Studio Donegal).

Fiber content:

100% Merino.

Gauge:

20 sts by 26 rows = 4 inches / 10 cm on 4mm (US 6).

Weight/yardage per skein:

100g / 190 yards (174m).

Construction:

Plied

Country of origin:

Ireland.

Manufacturer's suggested wash method:

Handwash garment with care and dry flat.

Average Retail Price: 

€9.50 / 100g skein. I purchased this yarn here

Studio Donegal have some wonderful new colours as you can see from the above picture, my favourites are the new steel grey, turquoise and chocolate brown. They say they have chosen their palette from the surrounding landscape which here in Ireland is usually dull and grey but even the grey colourways here are beautiful and perfect fro men's garments. The yarn itself is spun using traditional methods in the beautiful Kilcar by Donegal Yarns. A full colour palette is available here. 

Swatching:

I have been working with the midnight blue colour #554, the yarn is beautifully soft in comparison to the Aran Tweed. I started working as I normally do and constructed 4 inch swatch on  the recommended 4 mm needles but it was just uncomfortable to work this yarn on these needles, so I moved up a half size to 4.5 mm needles. The stretch in this yarn is really astounding and if you choose to work with this yarn (and I really hope you do) please, please knit a swatch and wash it. My swatch grew by 0.5st/inch (i.e. 2 sts per 4 inches) after washing which will affect the overall size of a garment. 

The swatch was so smooth and completely surprised me in a number of ways. It did not behave like I thought it would and I am completely in love with the intensity of colour and contrasting specks. Knitting in this colour is a little difficult as  it would be knitting with any dark yarn. I have ripped back so many times I lost count BUT this yarn still looks as good as the day of purchase.

Knitting and Pattern Choices: 
Knitting with this yarn was easy going and relaxing. The garment holds cables amazingly well and gives a clear definition to the cables as you can see below. I have chosen to knit a child's garment with it due to the stretch and durability of the yarn. It doesn't snag, pull or fight with me in anyway (yes yarn can fight with you). This yarn does require blocking, garments will grow in size off the needles. 

This yarn will knit up beautifully in almost any situation from accessories to garments to childrens knitwear. Even a simple stockinette stitch will provide textural interest due to the beautiful dying and flecks of contrasting colours.

Normally I would recommend Ravelry as a pattern resource but this yarn is so new that very few patterns are specifically written for it. My choice would be Carol Fellar's Contemporary Irish Knits for a refreshing modern view on Irish knitting patterns. 

Washing and Blocking:
I am always surprised by the number of people I meet that just do not block their FO's but block really does make a difference. I blocked my garment the same method as my swatch  a warm bath in mild soap, followed by a rinse in the same temperature water, a gentle blot in a towel, and then careful prodding back into shape before letting it dry flat.

Interesting Finds: 
If you want to read more about the history of Donegal Yarns why not click here. 


I found this video while reading about Studio Donegal,if you want to watch the carding and spinning machines of Studio Donegal in operation why not make yourself a cup of tea and watch the short video below.  The video also provides an insight to garment construction and weaving.

Overall View: 
I can really find no fault with this yarn. It's sold in 100gram hanks which gives you a decent 190 yards (174 meters) which is perfect for a winter accessory if you just want to dip your needles in before splashing out on a full garment. 



Let me know your views on the Merino 2-Ply, I would love to hear from your experiences with it.