More Pictures of DIY spindles and yarn tools

Hi everyone!
I have more pics to share. Found them on my hard drive.
These spindles are all handmade by me. The heart-shaped blue object was supposed to be a tatting shuttle. It was an experiment that didn't pan out. It can double as a pendant or a thread holder I guess.

Enjoy!

From left to right: 1. chopstick and polymer clay spindle, decent spinner. 2. Dowel and polymer clay triangular spindle, great sport weight single spinner. 3. Polymer clay handled size E crochet hook.

4. I drilled a hole in half  of a wooden yoyo I found, stuck a dowel and a hook in it. It is a decent spinner of fingering and sport weight singles. 5. A terra cotta polymer clay spindle, improvised. It eventually broke. ]= I need to remake it. 6. A printer gear and a chopstick bottom whorl spindle. All three have superwash merino singles on them.

(See above descriptions)

Close up images of this failed tatting shuttle and the ring I tatted on it. Eraser next to it to show the size. 

-MNR

Recent yarns I've spun

No, not stories.

Just, this semester, I've been spinning yarn. Its a fun past time.

Here are some of the ones I've made.
I've recently been more into mori kei... it is great for casual wear. I plan to make some knitted or crocheted garments with these handspun yarns.

These are actually the pre-yarns... thse are what are called "singles", because they are only one strand of yarn in a multi-stranded yarn.

 My CD top whorl plying spindle, and some cheap domestic greyish brown wool. It has a lovely wooly feel.

 My dowel and polymer clay top whorl spindle. On the right side of the picture is a spindle I made of a chopstick and a pill bottle lid, bottom whorl. This is part of a one lb soft brown wool sliver. This is one of my best spinning spindles. Funny, because it is not traditionally shaped. Triangle whorl.

This is that bottom whorl  pill bottle spindle. The roving was very fluffy and long and soft, requiring very little spin. Blue Faced Leicester Yellow dyed wool, 8 ounces. I made a hat.... I need to find  a picture of the hat...

I've been spinning cotton, flax, plarn, cotton balls, puppy hair, and sewing thread.

No I"m not obsessed with yarn and yarning...
Yeah I am. Who am I kidding.



-MNR

Lacey Things!

Good morning all.

I love lace. I recently discovered this after many years of crocheting and knitting.
I feel its one of those ultimate lolita crafts. After all, the most refined ladies of all ages mastered these things and created delicate, mindboggling shapes.
I guess I got into it when I learned I would probablyu never get rid of the large holes in my crochet. Crochet is made with vertical stitches and twists, so there are often vertical "slats" of holes. But crochet also makes sturdy fabric, much more structurally sturdy than knitting.

Don't get me wrong, they both have their benefits and to me, they benefit in certain situations. But I'm not a fan of the drapeyness of knitted doilies and edgings. I like the really tight gauge, and crochet lace works up so fast toooo, so it is my method of choice when creating lace generally.

So far, my most used technique of lace making has been crochet, but I've learned that tatting, or frivolite I suppose it was called in other languages, is VERY portable and creates very loopy gorgeous laces. I feel tatting is more freeform, so larger diagrams are sooo confusing. Plus its hard to find tatting patterns larger than a bookmark or doily.

Again, I'm promoting ravelry as really good for this purpose. Ravelry

I've even sewn my handmade lace onto lolita shirts and skirts. The edging wore out on an ebay dress I purchased two years ago, and I plan on replacing it with crocheted lace, if I could find the perfect edging! I might just use tatted lace. I really want to try remaking lolita slippers with my own canvas fabric and lace.
I also wonder what lace made with plastic bags would look like. I'm really into using alternate yarns.

The types of lace-making I practice:
crochet
knitting
tatting
punto in aria (needle lace)

Bobbin lace, one of the more traditional forms of lace from the 1400s to late 1800s in most parts of the world, is entirely hard looking! I have yet to master this. I have yet to start! I have to make pairs of bobbins to practice with, and its not very portable or fast. Plus, at any time, you can have anywhere from 4 to 32 pairs of bobbins or more. That means 8 to 64 different strands of threads weaving in and out of eachother.
When I master the basics of it, I'll let you guys know. =_=

Anyway, I need to upload images of what I've been making this boring summer, so stay tuned. Most of it is lace as it comes out pretty and staves off boredom for a short while. Uuuugh... I don't have a car so I can't get a job/volunteer. Maybe I will reopen my etsy with crocheted lace?

I've also been interested in diy technical things. I want to use things I have around the house to make a wind/solar power generator, or charger. Some of the ingredients I don't have, like magnetic enamel coated wire, so I'm going to have to bus it to radioshack or walk to the hardware store and see what they have. I didn't know it was so hard and time consuming to get from place to place when you don't have a car! Well, I knew, but I was used to taking 30 minutes to run an errand rather than 1.5 hours minimum on the bus (or walking).

Also, my computer is being fixed by lenovo (it has been almost a month) so I am using my mother's computer. That means I can't do 3d things and play most of the games I have for the computer. Eeeeeh.

-MNR

Knit Lolita Cardigan, 1 Peggy Sue

I love the lolita cardigan, its a great accessory. I just don't want to pay 100USD+ for the stuff in the stores, for various reasons. I have been brainstorming cardigan ideas using cardis in stores and in the lolita bibles.

 I am still not done knitting up the lolita cutsew I had been brainstorming earlier. It is coming along nicely, unfortunately it is at home so I can't show examples.

I don't have a lot of fine yarn, like dk, sport, or fingering, to create a lolita cardigan. I also don't have the patience. Therefore, I like taking patterns from ravelry and adapting them to be lolita.

This cardigan is perfect for lolita, especially casual. I draw inspiration from this blogger here. http://lindas-hemligheter.blogspot.com/2012/01/back-to-50s.html . She made an amazing pink cardi that looks very vintage with her 1950's dress. The 1950's aesthetic is very close to lolita, and in fact is cited often as one of the founding styles of lolita.

Nevermind all the theory. It is a very cute cardigan, and I happen to have dk weight yarn from a failed crochet pullover. I forget if it is Caron Spa or Caron Country. I've lost the labels for the yarn. The problem is, Caron Spa is 158 yards, and Country is 231 yards. That's a big difference as I usually purchase cheaper yarn. I don't have that much money.

The cardigan is called Peggy Sue. If you have a Ravelry, check it out here. http://www.ravelry.com/patterns/library/peggy-sue. I just wish I could get my hair in the 1950's style. Maybe there are antique photos of african american ladies of that period, might give me clues.

I have these great vintage buttons from the thrift store that I really want to use for something like this. Other people have used pearl shank buttons. So cute! There aren't pearl buttons in the button tin I purchased though.


I am almost done with the March Cardigan by Berrocco. Great, because winter is getting close to over. Booooo... I just need to seam, wash and block it. Not even sure how to do that, but... eh.

Simple Charity Adult Mitten pattern

Simple Charity Adult Mitten pattern

Because I couldn't find exactly what I wanted without customizing heavily, I decided to make my own worsted weight mitten pattern. I've searched Ravelry for simple charity mittens in a basic style. I like the thumb gusset  coming out of the side of the mitten, but couldn't find mittens for my exact specifications. Thus, these mittens were created.


Red heart worsted/aran weight yarn, size 7 dpns, sewing needle, stitch markers. Scrap yarn or stitch holder.
optional: size 5 dpns, or circular needles.

For adult woman size L or adult man's size S/M

CO 36 stitches. Distribute your stitches how you want, they are easily rearranged later. I usually do 12/12/12.  If you want a design for the top you can do 20/8/8 or some variation.
Do a 2x2 rib with either size 7 needles or size 5 needles. Or, do a 1x1 rib. Do this for 2 inches or till desired length for cuff. For me, beginning of round is shown by the tail of the yarn.

Knit one row plain.
Increase for  wrist by doing so: *K6, m1* till end of row. 6 stitches increased.

Knit plain for 2 inches. You may start designs here.

At beginning of round, m1, m1, place marker. You have 4 stitches for the start of your thumb gusset. Knit one round plain.
Repeat these last two rows until you have 13 stitches between your beginning of round and that marker. Place those 13 stitches on a stitch holder or scrap yarn, and continue knitting in the round. Pull yarn tight to close up the hole when you come to the thumb gusset in subsequent rounds. The hole should close on its own.

If you haven't placed designs and you want to, now is a good time to place designs.
My design was 2 red stripes, separated by black. How I did it: my colors were black (mc) and red (cc). I continued in black for  3 more rows. Then I did 3 rows red. Then another 3 rows black. Then another 3 rows red. Then I cut red and went back to black. There will be a bit of 'stripe jogging', so I placed the jogging stripes at the beginning of round, where my thumb hole resides. It is not quite noticeable.

Continue knitting for 4 more inches. This is usually where the pinky finger ends.

Begin decreases to close the mitten.
*K8, k2tog* till the end of row.
Knit one round plain.
*K7, k2tog* till end of row.
Knit one round plain.
*K6, k2tog* till end of row.
Knit one round plain.

Continue in this manner, until you finish row *k2, k2tog*.
After that row, just k2tog. You should  be left with 6 stitches. Cut yarn and leave a tail 12 inches or longer. Weave through remaining stitches and tie off.

Thumb:
Pick up the stitches left earlier. You should have 13. Pick one up where the hole is, and then you should have a total of 14 stitches.
Knit in the round, tightening  where the hole is. Knit for 2.5 inches. Begin decreases.
*k1, k2tog* till the end of row.
Knit one round plain.
*k2tog* till the end of row.
Leave a tail of 8 inches, draw through remaining stitches and tie off.

At this point, I crocheted around the cuff with my contrasting color. I crocheted 32 stitches evenly around the opening, to tighten the cuff. This is optional.


Make second mitten in this manner, reversing the top hand pattern, by distributing stitches like so: 8/8/20, where 20 is where you put the design.

Thoughts about yarn.

There is a certain camaraderie knowing that another knitter used the same yarn to make their different project. It is very interesting to see what a yarn can do, and the possibilities to be had with it.

It almost motivates you to do a similar project with that same yarn.
I search through the project pages on Ravelry to find interesting designs and inspirations for any of my artistic projects.
I hope that one day I will have time for a knit a long or a crochet a long.

I also wish I could find my camera... because I just got a major haul of yarn from the thrift store. I love the thrift store for finding yarn. Its got its own element of excitement when you find something that would have been 6 dollars for .99c.

Today I found:
3 balls of crochet thread, size 10, blue, pink, and cream, for 99c each
6 skeins of  3 oz worsted cotton yarn from Caron, some discontinued brand.
Size 13 bamboo Clover knitting needles
Size 15 plastic bates knitting needles.

In addition, I got three college ruled notebooks that I needed for class. I think they were 99c each.
Its cool because this thrift store is usually really expensive.

I always think to myself in the thrift store: Why would a yarnie destash their stuff to the thrift store?? You can sell that stuff for more than 5 dollars a skein online! But, their loss. Oh well. xD
Unless, god forbid, I lost the use of my hands and toes, I would never get rid of my yarn. There are so many projects that need to be knit and crocheted. I have over 1900 projects that I could make on Ravelry.


-MNR

After a while....

Was having trouble getting back to the blog. Can't think of things to write. Rather, I am having too many ideas and not enough attention span. I guess I can write about them all. Sort of.

• I am subscribed to the japanese Gothic and Lolita Bible. This issue is vol 40, summer edition. It appears to be a steam lolita and pirate lolita issue. The featured brands are Innocent World and Victorian Maiden, which are classic lolita brands. I'm a classic lolita so that is great. Unfortunately, some of the brands have released some shiny costumy stuff. That's not as good. And it seems across the board that there are some ita items. So there are some good and bad stuff in this issue.
• I'm back home for the week, until sunday-ish. I prefer being home. It seems there is less pressure on me for stuff. The problem is, I'm so lazy! I can't bring myself to do much other than sleep, game, knit, or crochet. Poor puppy! 
• I wanted to make a post on plarn, plastic yarn, and introduce it to a wider audience. I want to. Its a large topic, but its part of the eco movement amongst knitters and crocheters
• I still don't have a sewing machine, but the good news is, I'm closer to getting back to school, and I don't have a room mate! I'm tired of having room mates, to be honest, but it can get somewhat lonely. My meaning is, I would probably be able to use my sewing machine late into the night! Which is good because I found some old fabric that can be turned into dresses and or skirts! I wish I could find batteries for my camera. They're basically cotton polyester sheets, but whatevs. At least they're mine, and I know they're clean.
• I hit the jackpot with knitting items at the thriftstore. The thrift stores in my area (western ma) seem to be selling lots of crochet and knitting supplies, as well as cheap yarn. The problem is, if I'm going to go to a thrift store and buy some yarn, I want for it to at least be NOT acrylic, or wool preferably. I'm going there to get a discount, not pay slightly more for it.
• Unfortunately, I can't go to Webs while I'm at home. Mother is getting married at the end of the week so I have to take the bus home. Its not an immensely big deal, because they've been together for several years and I already figured he was my stepfather. He certainly lived like it for several years. They're not having a big wedding, no new dress, no expensive rings, quick ceremony, no cake. The worst thing is NO CAKE!
• The english gothic and lolita bible did a small issue on weddings. Most of it was traditional and girly, nothing out of the ordinary with only a few innovative designs. I want to create a wedding design spread (on paper). Just for fun, to see what kind of fanciful designs I come up with.

Those are some of the things that were floating about in my head. Perhaps I shall choose one and expand on it later. Thanks for reading.

-MNR