Friday, January 17, 2014

cowls

Ok, so I know this is theoretically a sewing blog, and here I am posting even more knitting, with nary a new sewing project in sight.... but, well, that's why I put the "etc" in the title, to cover my obsessive yet ocd crafting bases, hahaha.

Cowls!


I started this cowl for a friend last saturday, and by sunday afternoon it was done and ready for blocking! Go chunky yarn! It was so fast, easy, and satisfying, that I figured I would make one for my grandma too, as I'm seeing her on the weekend.


It looks wider than the first one, but it's actually just shorter. The yarn came in 90 yard balls instead of the 110 called for, and there was only one ball in this colour, so I cut out some of the rounds from each section to make it work. I think it was actually a super bulky weight, so the stitches are a little more dense, but it's just as pretty, and so very pink! I hope she likes it :).

And speaking (several paragraphs ago) about blocking, I finally started doing it, for the first time(s), with these projects, and I will never go back to unblocked knitting. Look at how much less amazing the first cowl looked before being blocked:


It's all lumpy and bumpy and misshapen, nothing like the sleek drapy beast it was to become.

I'd like to be able to say I have lots of sewing in the works to show you, but really I'm just plotting all the new things I could knit, hahaha. Prepare to be inundated! (very slowly, because that's normally the speed at which I finish knitting projects :P)



Wednesday, January 8, 2014

awesome presents

My dad is super handy with woodworking (and lots of other things), and has been making me awesome tools this year as presents. They're so neat I thought I would share!

Remember how I took a drop spindle class in the summer, and (theoretically) learned how to make yarn? Now I can use the same technique on this baby:


It's a spindle style spinning wheel, with a foot petal and three swappable spindles so that I can make two strands, and then ply them together :). I'm excited to try using it, but also a little wobbly kneed about how much a learning curve they will probably be. But once I get good, I'll have an excuse to buy more cool craft supplies! Yay, colourful roving!


And for christmas, a fancy point presser/clapper! I've been vaguely eying these up for ages, but it just didn't seem like the kind of tool I would use often enough to warrent the expense; now I'm prepared for just about any pressing situation! It's so smooth, I can't even describe it (my christmas present to him was a fancy new sander, and conveniently, this was slightly late enough to take advantage of it!).

So yeah, stand in awe of my super cool dad and his handymanish support of my crafting hobbies :P.