Yarnbombing Comes to My Town

Yarn artists have brightened up dreary February days with colorful work all over my town, on sculptures, benches, and trees.

The artist in charge actually got permission from the town to do this for one month.

This may tell you something about the town I live in.

Or you can watch this video.

New Yarns!

I've been at the wheel and here's what I came up with.

First, this is the first of my Recycled 2-Ply line, colorway "Beaufort." I dyed some raw wool bought from Woodberry Crossing in Maryland a bright orange, then spun singles with it. I plied the singles with a pale blue yarn from a 100% wool recycled sweater.


Next, I have the first of my regular 2-Ply line, colorway "Azalea." Mostly Romney from Cranberry Moon farm in MA. Dyed three shades: brown, pink, and blue. Carded the colors separately, and alternated different colored batts as I spun singles. Plied singles together.


Last I have another batch of 2-Ply, this time 100% Icelandic wool from a small farm in VA. I bought 3 fleeces from this farm, one white, one dark brown, and one grayish. For this yarn, I dyed some of the white fleece a lilac color and carded it together with natural-colored brown fleece. This might be my favorite so far.


All of these are available on my Etsy shop.

Free: Crochetastic Tote

First of all, new word: Crochetastic. Crocheting with plastic bags. And it's fantastic.

Here's a more specific pattern for a purse/bag, with more detailed numbers than the general bag recipe in the last post on this subject. That post also has instructions for making yarn out of plastic bags.



Free Pattern: Crochetastic Tote

Materials
Crochet hook, size P
Scissors
Brown/Tan grocery bags, XXX grams. This works out to be 3 basketball-ball sized balls of yarn--WAY more than you think.
Note on yarn thickness: Cut the plastic bags into loops that are between 2 and 2.5 inches wide. See my earlier post for instructions on making the yarn.
Optional: White grocery bags, if you want stripes. About a softball sized ball of yarn.

Skills Required
Chain crochet stitch
Single crochet stitch, worked flat
Single crochet stitch, worked in the round
Single crochet decreases.

PATTERN

Bottom of bag: Chain 20, turn. Work flat in sc for 8 rows. Down forget your turning stitch.

At end of 8th row, turn, and work down short side for 8 sts. Turn again, work down long side for 20 sts, then turn once more and work 8 sts along the second short side. You are now back at the beginning of the round.

**Base of my bag is 14" long by 5" deep.

Work Body: Work bag in the round for 17 inches, for a tall tote like mine. Add stripes if you want--I put in 2 rows of a white bag yarn to create the stripe near the top of my bag.

Decreases: 5 rows before the start of your handles, you need to add a few decreases. As you can see from my bag, the decreases don't look like decreases--the bag tends to fan out, though, and the decreases make it look straight on the sides.

Work a one stitch decrease at each end of the bag (on the "short" sides), 2 dec per round. Decreases work like this: sc, skip 1 st, sc. The next round, sc as normal. Then work one more dec round. 4 total sts decreased. Work 2 more rounds in regular sc, then start the handles.

Work handles: At start of next round, beginning on a long side, work 7 sc sts. Then, chain 6 sts. Skip 6 sts on fabric, reconnect and work to the end of the long side--7 sts--then across the short side--8 sts--then 7 sts down the second long side. Chain 6 sts, skip 6 sts on fabric, reconnect, and work sc to end of round.

Work regular sc for 3 more rounds. Break yarn. Weave in ends.

Done!

Wheel!

This week, for my first anniversary gift, I received an Ashford Traveller spinning wheel.

*glowing with happiness*

I tried out all sorts of wheels at Gate City Fibers in Greensboro--the Ladybug, a Louet Victoria, the Ashford Kiwi, Ashford Traditional. The Traveller was by far the winner in the categories of (1) prettiness, (2) smoothness of treadle, and (3) compactness.

We saved money by purchasing the wheel unfinished and unassembled. I recommend this actually, especially to beginning spinners. When I opened the box and put every piece of the wheel on the table for finishing, I really learned about each individual piece of the wheel, and what each part does.

Even though it looked like a big old mess.



Then, the husband put it together for me, while I supervised. The conversation was often funny.
Me: That's the maiden.
Mike: Seriously?
Me: And that's the lazy kate.
Mike: Don't we already have one of those?



And then the wheel was finished.


While Mike built the wheel, I was unraveling some thrift store sweaters. My goal with the wheel has never been to make yarn from scratch--although I'm sure I'll do that too (especially for lace-weight yarns). Instead, I want to make yarn from recycled sweaters, by plying it with raw fiber I process at my home. I'll post some pictures of my results, soon.

Knit Shrug Photos

Here are some pics of my first knit project, a shrug I made out of the World's Cheapest Yarn. (Total cost, including tax: $1.86.)


I started with a pattern for an idea, but I am cognitively unable to follow a pattern all the way through without adjusting it to make me happy. (See previous post.)


I added a crocheted ruffle around the collar and trim at the sleeves. Otherwise it appears I am a knitter. It took me about 14 hours, including the car ride to D.C. from down here in the south and then back again. Easy as pie!