Category: Crafts

What You're Doing

Or, what I’ve been doing.

Things haven’t been too busy but I’ve been enjoying the chance to read again and not spend so much time on the computer. I realize once school starts up in September I’m probably going to be chained to my laptop again.

I’m trying to learn to actually use Photoshop, rather than putting up with my usual tactic of fumbling around until I get something presentable. I’m also teaching myself to type using Dvorak to help with my repetitive strain. I’ve pretty much got it down but find it hard to stick to because I’m so slow at it compared to Qwerty. Oh well. If I put stickers or something on my keyboard, or rearrange the keys, I’m sure I’d be faster at it since when I forget where a letter is I can just look instead of having to stop and think about it.

Look! A cute ducky!

cute ducky

That was taken before Convocation, when me and Dean were wandering the park looking for good places to take pictures of the gown for my grandma. I’m sure she’s glad she made me promise that I’d go to this one [since I skipped out on my highschool graduation] because not many people in my family make it through to university, let alone graduate. Now that I’ve had a couple weeks to get over it, I’m kinda glad I went too. Not for the usual reasons, but so I’ll have an idea of what to expect when I graduate from Western. At least that’s one convocation that I’ll be glad to go to!

Still, I really like the pretty purple frame for my degree. It’s much better than Dean’s with his boring brown thing. Mine’s so bright and cheerful. I think it better represents the spirit of the school. Not just because it’s the school colours. The whole experience at school was so much fun. The other frame is so austere looking. It kinda creeps me out. I keep saying mine is better than Dean’s. Eventually it turns into us joking that I chose the one I did because I’m an artsy-fartsy philosophy major and he’s an important and valued business student. Ha! I still say we win because there are more people getting BAs at Laurier than BBAs. So there!

See? Mine’s so nice:

degree

While waiting for the spinning wheel to get back I didn’t feel like knitting much, so I started working on Peacock Tapestry again and I’ve now finished another page. For as much as I still love this piece after all these years, I must admit I’m going to be very excited when I’m finally finished the leaves on those trees. So much green! Even the pears don’t provide much distraction from the overwhelming green of it all.

This is the section of the trees that I just finished. You can see where the page ends.

peacock tapestry detail

This is what I have so far:

peacock tapestry whole

Since Kitty actually stayed off it this time, I’ve got something else. Kitty raspberries!

kitty razz

In other cross-stitch news I received my needleroll from Hania this month:

needleroll

It’s so beautiful! I love it so much. Especially because it’s something I never would have thought to make for myself, and yet it’s so pretty.

I also made her one. Mine’s something of a colour-overload, but in a good way I think. The original pattern was so monotone that I couldn’t stand it and went in the complete opposite direction.

topiary needleroll

As if there isn’t enough random stuff in this post, have some cute piggies!

piggies


Here It Goes Again

Okay, so I lied about the wheel being fixed before. When I tried to use it the wheel was wobbly and not spinning properly. The instructions sent with the repair kit said to tighten the bolt holding the wheel to the base until the wheel runs true. I tried that. Instead of the bolt tightening it broke and made my wheel not just sort-of useless, but completely useless.

Needless to say, rather than making things worse I contacted the manufacturer and sent it back for them to fix properly. I could have just asked for a new bolt but this way means it gets fixed right the first time.

I checked my UPS tracking, it arrived back at the factory yesterday so sometime soon I should have my wheel back and working as it should be. When that happens, I’ll definitely be posting pictures of what I spin. I’ll also be dyeing and spinning some of my own stuff, since I ordered a bunch of assorted fibre last month that is just sitting in the box in the corner waiting to be loved.

I’ve made some really good progress in Peacock Tapestry and almost completely finished the section I was on. I can’t really work by the page because it’s an evil evil pattern and is too complicated to cooperate.

I’m participating in a needleroll exchange and I finished and mailed that on Monday. I have pictures and they are awesome but I can’t post them until my receiver gets it. No spoiling the surprise!


The Wheel Is Here! [FIXED]

I received my new wheel, a Louet Victoria (S95) last Friday, but with moving and such didn’t get to use it right away. On Saturday when I did try the singles I spun were great, the wheel was amazing, and everything seemed fine. The next day I tried Navajo plying the singles and it just wasn’t happening. Then the wheel started fighting with me, making this really loud screeching sound that worried me so I stopped to check things out. It turned out the wheel was forcing the screw holding the footman bearing into place out.

loose screw with footman

The screw could not come out all the way and thus make the bearing fall off because the footman was holding it in place. It could only come out as far as the empty space inside the cup of the footman would allow.

loose screw without footman

After asking around to see if this was something I could fix myself or not, I contacted the dealer I bought the wheel from to see what could be done. He contacted Louet and got them to send me a bolt assembly that could be used instead of the screw that would fix the problem. Apparently it’s not something that happens often, but it does happen. Rest assured, the letter they sent with the part mentioned that second-generation Victoria’s would be assembled with the bolt instead to prevent it from happening at all in the future.

The repair itself was pretty simple. You drill a hole through the wheel where the hole for the screw is, then put the metal bushing provided into this hole. After removing the white plastic bushing from the bearing, you put the bearing on the bolt provided, with a split washer and regular washer between it and the wheel, and then just tighten the bolt into the metal bushing.

I didn’t attempt pictures of this step because the lighting was bad and because a camera can’t really show you the inside of a hole that small very well either. But when you are done (and it’s easier than it sounds, the repair took a matter of minutes) you will have a nice secure bearing that won’t be forced out of the wheel. It’s much the same as the way the wheel itself is attached to the base.

repaired bearing assembly

It also doesn’t make the wheel look much different than it did before. In fact, I suspect other than the fact that the bolt used is black most people wouldn’t notice a difference at all.

repaired bearing assembly front view


Things are good

I’ve got a new spindle that is very beautiful and well-balanced which is helping immensely to improve my technique.

I’ve got the money for a spinning wheel and just need to get ahold of the not-so-local yarn store that sells them so I can go pick one up.

I’m making some progress on several of the pairs of socks that I started for myself last year.

I’ve started a pair of socks for Dean that is coming along swimmingly.

I’m working on Peacock Tapestry again.

I got a haircut that looks nothing like any haircut I’ve ever had before.

no hair


More Yarn!

Though it took a day later than I thought, I have pictures for you.

This one’s more accurate to the colour, though I used the magic of Photoshop to try and fix the other as well.

These skeins are the same size as the first batch. I have yet to measure and find out the yardage or weight of them though.


I made yarn!

I actually meant to post this before Reading Week, but in the midst of packing and such it just didn’t get done as planned. Anyway, I made yarn. In the last six weeks I’ve been taking a spinning class in order to improve my technique and to expand on what I’ve taught myself. The benefit to doing it is they let you borrow one of their wheels for the duration of the course. I don’t like this particular wheel much, but it has taught me what to look for and what to avoid in the one I get for myself.

So far I’ve made these:

yarn small

The two on the outside are Crown Mountain Farms superwash roving in the Ain’t No Mountain High Enough colourway. It’s been two-plied into sock yarn. I really love this stuff. I finished some more sock yarn in Wild Thing over Reading Week and should have pictures of it later today. I also ordered a couple more colours that should arrive tomorrow.

The middle-right yarn was some roving we were given to mess with in class. I have no idea what it is. Wool, definitely, but beyond that I have no clue. It’s been navajo-plied, my first attempt, and that seemed to go really well. This yarn runs from lace-weight to worsted, since the green was an incredibly thin single, the white was slightly larger, and the blue was even thicker than that.

thin small

The middle-left yarn is a mixture of a whole bunch of fibres. We were learning to use hand carders and could pick from lots of stuff to blend. It has several different kinds of wool, mohair, and corn silk. Maybe some other things but those are what I remember.

The middle one was the first that I spun on the wheel. It’s wool again, but rather coarse. I brought it home with me and the cats confiscated it, so whether or not it gets found will dictate what it can be made into. My cats like eating things that resemble string.


Cat Hair Yarn

You might remember that in my last post I mentioned making my sister some yarn out of the cat hair she’d collected from brushing her cats. I thought we didn’t have any pictures of it, but when Dean started showing me the pictures taken last weekend there were quite a few that he’d taken of it. These are the two that I liked.
Cat Yarn
Cat Yarn Two

Most of this came from the same cat, though with 5 of them and a dog around I’m sure there are bits of all of them in it.

The star of today’s post: ROSS (and Stephanie’s legs)

Ross


First Attempts

I’ve been eager to learn to spin for a while now, but I didn’t know where to start. One day I got bored and starting looking for information on the internet, which lead to my buying a spindle and a bunch of roving to try. Unfortunately, it was taking a long time to arrive in the mail (and we know how impatient I get with the mail) so in a fit of desperation I made this:

MacGuyver Spindle

My roving arrived that same day, so I decided to see if I could get the hang of spinning from the pictures and such that I’d seen. It was easy! My first single came out surprisingly thin, if a bit underspun in a few places.

First Single

Unfortunately, there was no way to wind on in order to spin some more, so I contented myself with the knowledge that I could do this and decided to wait another week for the spindle I ordered.

It finally arrived, and I went straight to work on my first yarn. The first skein is the sky blue that I ordered with the spindle, plied with some of the superwash merino that I had already received. I find the blue is harder to spin evenly, though the superwash is a dream to work with. That is why this skein is more even than the other even though I spun it first. The second skein is more of the blue, plied back onto itself.

First Yarn

I’m still practicing with the blue one, since the other I’d like to be able to spin consistently enough to make yarn for socks with. This is what I currently have:

Current Progress