Day 13 Stars in my eyes- What I made today

I love sweaters and you can only wear so many.
So I collect them to cut up and create with and even hook.
Here is a sweater star stuffed with sweater bits and whipped with ribbon yarn with sparkly thread.

Making ornaments for your tree?
Make sure they are light in colour so they show up !

Day 12 I hooked I hooked

Today I rented three movies and hooked.
Before


After

Beautiful Angie and Baby Seth and Creating

Aren't they lovely ?


I just wanted to talk a bit about my creations that seem paltry or that I describe as such.

I have a philosophy about making things, it is better to make anything than make NOTHING.
So I take good creations along with the bad, you learn lots more from the off the wall stuff or the things that don't work out than you will from a smooth sailing project.

If you aren't making mistakes are you really making anything ?
Mistakes =creating.
Have a great day !

Day 11 What a pitiful creation for today !

I'm sorely lacking in ambition, had lots of lovely people here hooking and I'm tired out though I can't say I did much.
Angie, my delightful worker bee, she restored order to me with a running commentary that keeps us both pondering and enjoying life! She is a gift from heaven and not just because she straightened out my wool not dyed yet storage room. That would take the patience of a Saint. She brought baby Seth who charms the hookers like crazy.

Here it is CRAZY bookmark #2 for The Hour I First Believed,by Wally Lamb.
You saw it here first !
I hope tomorrow is the hooking day.. we shall see.

Day 10 What was created today

Tonight I am TIRED. The snow fall has been unrelenting and I was here on my own, so driveway clearing fell to me two days in a row and it was heavy. Then this afternoon Honey asked if I wanted to go skiing.I did. It was good, and I was remarkably energetic but I bet I'll sleep like a baby. I forgot I missed the silence of the winter woods and the tiny sounds my poles and skiis make... that is if I can hear it over my grunts , groans , and heavy breathing.
So tonight I was coming down to clean up the studio for tomorrow's hook in and I spied some stuff I had out to  show Erica about needle felting and I made this toggle button , or ornament, or what ever your imagination can come up with ! Looks like a colourful curling stone ( purely Canadian reference ) It is made from my hand dyed yarn and a white needle felted ball, probably meant for part of a snowman. I plan to do better tomorrow and have a before and after picture of some hooking , you all remember what that is ..... I hope I do !

Day 9 What we made today

Tonight Erica Scott came over and we made wet felt sheets in light , medium and dark fleece.
It was a lot of fun and Erica is going to use the felt to wrap jars for an experiment on insulation factors, how much does colour affect heat retention. She will pose several experiments to help the kids visiting the Outdoor Education Center decide what would be the best way of life for them for successful survival if they came from another planet to Wiarton. Today I believe shovel hands would be helpful as it has snowed steadily for over 28 hours. It's starting to look a lot like the picturesque North pole type movies we see at this time of year.
Here is what we made with tools and various wools used:


Here is happy Erica:


One of my good creating friends Dawn donated the wool long ago to me and she will be glad to know what we are doing with it.

Day 8 What I made today

Here is what I made today, brooch with the swirl, a piece of knitting, a dryer sheet. fancy yarns and cord.

Brooch with dark border silk fabric, dryer thread snarls from washing wool, fancy cord, wool fabric, stripette from hooking hydrangea picture.

( Double Chin made from potato chips ) LOL!

I also mastered the art of knitting and reading today, and not an audio book, a real one, I am so proud of myself. Imagine doing two things you love at the same time !!!
I hope you don't mind the brooches because I already made one but this is something I do regularly, I call them assembled treasure brooches.



Have a great creative day !

Day 7 What I almost couldn't make today

Another power outage almost prevented me from making today's project. We heated supper in the wood furnace !! I can hardly wait for my gas stove. Wonder what is going on with Ontario Hydro....
But just in time the lights came on and I could do my creating.
Here are the things I was inspired by : ( they were made by the wonderful Jeanne Langston, ( star ) and another wonderful lady who goes to Caraway rug school, if you know who it is write in ! I'd love to give her the credit for being so inventive with that heart shaped brooch.



Here is what I made


We had a terrific class today, Pam got ready to do her cats paw rug which she drew, placing circles that she will make more organic by starting in the center of the circle with a wavy shaped spot and continue to hook out from.
Debbie was preparing and finishing off several stockings to give as Christmas gifts. She made the cuffs a variety of colours of similar values, it worked up magically !!

Day 6 What I made today

Today was a knitting day. I love to knit things with a great yarn called Sockotta. It is not easy to find in Canada, but recently Patons came out with a similar looking product. I'm taking it for a test run by making another drop stitched shawl.

It has you knit the whole thing then drop a stitch every seven as you are casting off.

Here is what it looks like when it is finished.  It is marvelously comfy, this was knit with sockotta. Really it's made for sock making but I like it for "other" things, like thread for penny rugs, it looks wonderfully marled.

 

Here is today's Paton sample of the wonderful scarf /shawl pattern. 

Day 5 improvement of colour

Here is what the colour of yesterday's wool in real life, how come it is so blue in the last post?

Day 5 what I made today

Here is a part of the yd of wool I dyed today for a background for a cats paw type rug.
In a giant dye pot..... wet the wool first , have the dye in the dye bath before adding wool. Add acid after the 10 min. point. Heat until water is clear. Rinse thoroughly, hang or throw into dryer to dry.
One part black
One part turquoise (majic carpet )
Two parts blue
1/8th part moss green
1/8th part bottle green


I can hear you right now... what are you talking about you crazy woman ... parts ????
Well, here is the story.. I dyed a yd. so my basic part was 1/8th tsp.
You might be dyeing a 1/4 yd so for the same value you would need to have your basic part 1/32th tsp.
Ratios are so much easier to expand or contract.

Go forth and create you amazing beings.

Chelsea Rolls over Medium Dark Purple

 

In this picture you can see the wool before dyeing on the bottom right. The chelsea rolls arrayed out on top of it, and to the left is an echo I placed on top of the wool in the pan with natural wool to show the colours of dye I used on each one. Though the beginning colour is not eggplant you can achieve similar interesting variances.

The best dyeing advice I can give you is just go for it, you can't really go wrong. If it seems implausible, you should really try it. Like I said to Christine today, this idea , to go for broke is what separates the men from the boys.

A Bolt of Eggplant - what can be done ?

On Tuesday I had a great question :

Well, it's -22C on this overcast Tuesday morning around 9:30 and it's just starting to get light. The dull morning reminded me of the whole bolt of dull egg plant coloured wool I purchased last year and what to do with the dang thing. It doesn't bleed much and really, it is just simply brown.
I wanted a rich egg plant wool like the photo showed, any suggestions to bring it to life?

Eggplant is a deep rich colour but it can be terribly boring as well.
My advice for anyone with a plethora of one dark colour ( equals boring ) is to divide it into 8 parts, the amount you divide is up to you, according to your needs for a background say.

Find 8 BRIGHT dyes.
I overdye the each piece of eggplant with one of the bright dyes. 
Colours I might use: 
yellow
turquoise
red violet
red brown
orange
violet
blue
green

You will end up with an array of lovely off shoots of eggplant, some warm, some cool, some dull some bright, but all dark.

You can also make chelsea rolls with eggplant in smaller pieces about 1/16th or 1/8th of a yd works.
Use 8 pieces of wool, the same 8 colours. They will co-mingle and create a pieces of interesting spotted array that all go together. 
Here are the instructions for making generic Chelsea rolls.

The Chelsea Roll
Using only one fabric like natural or a blue or gray you can have lovely variations to use together in tons of ways. Textures work wonderfully too. If you use a variety of colours in your chelsea pan you will get a whole different set of miraculous set great wool. This is what I choose to show you.

You need:
WOOL
8 or 12 pieces of wool about 18" long and about 4" wide in colours of your choice.
Wet the wool using synthropol, jet dry or hair shampoo without conditioner. All of these will wet wool almost immediately. It only takes a few drops.

A PAN
I call this THE CHELSEA ROLL because our wool looks exactly like a chelsea roll/cinnamon bun sitting in the pan. Look for a flat pan like an cake pan or any flat surface pan with some depth. If each piece of eggplant is 1/4 yd, I would use 1/4 tsp of dye in 3/4 cup of water, make sure your pan is deep enough to hold the water needed to dye 8 pieces of wool.Once a kitchen tool is devoted to dyeing that's the end of it’s cooking life. If you have no pan go to the grocery store and pick up an aluminium cake pan. When you use it place it on a cookie sheet for ease of moving in and out of the oven.

DYE
For more dynamic results use one colour of dye per piece of wool.
One of the biggest hang ups we have as dyers is the inability to just go with something, we think we need exactly what dyes are suggested. Making substitutions can really free us up to use our eyes more instead of recipes.
If you chose colours that are alike, greens, blues, purple or yellow, red, orange that will get you a blending type of wool, you could use for a hill or water or sky.
If you choose colours from around the colour wheel you will get lots more interesting variations. When colours bump into each other they create new colours. Try both ways. See the side bar to help relate the dyes to wool and what you desire in the end.

Don’t forget to add a pinch of citric acid crystals to each dye formula.

Directions
Have your pan ready, your oven on at 350˚F , your water boiling, your dyes picked, your wool wet.

Pick up a piece of wool place in your pan and roll it in a spiral.
I usually grab hold of the end of the wool strip and start turning it around like I’m getting pasta on a fork, do this loosely. It should look rose like. Do all 8 or 12 rolls.
These rolls can touch each other in the pan and I encourage them to do so.

Here is what one roll looks like.

Next prepare your dye. Dye the rolls one at a time. Pour the dye directly onto one wool roll. Let the dye go where it may. Continue on until all the rolls have received their anointing of dye.

Using a bottom of a jar or a specially assigned potato masher press down firmly on each roll in the middle of it once. Don’t clean the jar or masher. between rolls. Don’t touch the wool again please. I beg you. Please don’t add more water or cover. Place in oven until the water is clear.

Here is what they look like in the pan after dyeing. These were dyed with greens over medium colours but you can imagine what will happen with darker ones.

Day 4 - What I made today .... My podcast

Hi ,

 This podcast involved 6 long days of labour..... to hear it click on the red title Day 4 What I made today .... my podcast

You heard it here first !

 I hope you enjoy it and I hope I improve a great deal doing it.

Here is a picture of the Eureka Moment ! And no crying or dirty diapers either.

Day 3 What I made today

Hi All,

 Here is what I made today, sorry it's another brooch made from a sample bit of noro yarn knit up, then felted with the machine to a dryer sheet , then I added other fun bits on.

 If you look carefully you can see Birdie and a clean studio too.....

Dec 2 - What I did today

This is part of my out of the box project I just did .... it was due last June, you can't say I don't have perseverance. It represents the idea of colour ......part of the "tools"  I  have represented in my box. You might wonder why I'm thinking about inside a box when I was to think outside it.

Sheer perversity. By the way I had a success with my my kiltie and felting it up, thank goodness.

Making it fuzzy

Today I'm going through pieces of beautiful recycled wool sent to me from an angel in Virginia, Heather. I'm making the dollar bin glorious.
Heather has the wonderful knack of getting those twill woven kilts to thicken up ! You know what I mean.... felt in way that makes it easier to hook with.

I recently tried to shrink up some of these but I can't help but blame my washer. It is a newer model, still top loading though.
Even on heavy duty and twice washed I can't get the fluff I'm looking for.

I just put it in again, some where I read it might take 5 times in the washer to make this happen with these new low agitation models. It is kinder on our clothes but a weak tool for the fiber artist.

The gas line was installed today from road to house so soon, like my favorite saying I will indeed be cooking with gas. And dyeing of course.

Off to make something for my December challenge and clean the studio - just look at the state of it !
This photo was taken by my new computer !

Creation and Expansion Part 3

Your word to explore this week is LAYERS, this could be hens, clothing, onions or political intrigue.
What comes to mind ? What develops from there? Have an adventure with your Creative Visual Journal.

Make a thing a day program Day 1

Here is a brooch I made using all manner of silk and yarn and wool.
Proud I got a good start.

Oh !
I delivered my purse to Marci today and she really loved it. I got lots of hugs and thanks,it was FUN to make someone so happy.
She said she might be by tomorrow to visit the beast in her lair !!
Those are my words not hers.

Happy Creating !

Recycling and Tests for Real Wool

Every once in a while wool comes my way without me seeking it. In other words I'm not buying it from my "dealer"
This unknown "wool" sometimes needs to be tested before I try it out. Pictured below are some NOT WOOL samples and one with partial wool, the tiny pieces on top are the bleach tested remains.





Many of you like to go good wool hunting and I hope these tips will help.

Reasons for recycled wool:
inexpensive
versatility
beautiful tweeds and textures

Reasons against recycled wool:
dry cleaning fluids
moths
not much “life” left in the wool

Rip Test- there will be a soft tearing if wool is 100% or close.The addition of synthetics creates a harsh ripping noise.

Burn Test- fabric with a high wool content will become soft ash and be difficult to ignite when held to a match. It will smell like burnt hair.
Fabric of a more synthetic base will ignite immediately burn quickly and dangerously ( do this over a sink). It will make a hard plastic ridge where burnt and stink like burning plastic.

Bleach Test- place a sample of questionable fabric in a container with pure bleach. Leave overnight. If it disappears completely it was 100% wool. If there are remains in the container they are the synthetic component.

When you are searching out wool to recycle at thrift stores or from family and friends there are four things to look for:

Weight of the wool- thick or thin ?
Width it will cut-weave loose or tight ?
Wool Content- look for label
Waste- how much wool will you end up with?

The bigger stash of wool you have the greater variety and creativity you bring to your rug and its design.
Hints:
Tabby weave is best. It looks like this:
-I-I-l-l-l-l-l-l-l-l-l-l-l-l-l-l-l-l-l-l-l-l-l-l-
l-l-l-l-l-l-l-l-l-l-l-l-l-l-l-l-l-l-l-l-l-l-l-l-l

Less than 80% wool will not dye completely and is damaging to cutter wheels. Though it can be terrific in our work if it is glorious to look at.

Ugly colours are good, you can dye them.

Shiny wool is never good!

Thin wool can be thickened by agitation and soap in the washer.

Avoid Superwash or Teflon coated wool.

Coats can be cut on a narrow cutting head if they are thick.

Blankets if thin enough and cut wide make good hooking wool.

Thick blankets and coats may be used for binding and penny rugs but do not make good prodding.

You can hook open weave wool cut wide #6 or #8 easily with the proper tools and backing.

New , natural coloured wool woven just for hooking if purchased in 5 yd. lots is approx.$25 a yd. Keep this in mind when searching for new wool in fabric stores.

100% wool is usually very soft to the touch.

Worsted wool will unravel at cut edges while being hooked.

Wash all garments immediately or freeze or store outside of your home because of moths.

Place mothball odoured or musty smelling wool outside in the sun to remove odours.