Sunday, January 21, 2007

What a Busy Week!!

Well I've been to visit Mum to cheer her up and my what a busy week we had. No sooner had we put little Emily up for her nap then out came the felting equipment, dyes, spinning wheels and so on! Considering we only had a couple of Emily free hours each day we managed to get loads done and here it all is for you.


First of all is this felted necklace that was made mainly by Mum with bits by me as well - what great fun it is squelching bits of fleece in soapy water and trying to form shapes with it. It takes a bit of time and effort but was well worth it!

Next of all I plied my 'Icy' hand spun with my beaded thread. Now that was fiddly - it took ages to thread all the beads I had (approximately 1200 seed beads) and then trying to ply that thread with the 2 strands of hand spun whilst evenly spacing the beads, trying to get and even ply and getting used to Mums wheel (hers is double treadled whilst mine is single treadled) was quite a task but between Mum and I we got the job done.

Now although there is only 100m worth of yarn I really should have had more beads on the thread. Also I would try to use a nylon thread rather than ordinary sewing thread as the beads tended to stick on this and had to be freed every now and then. It's certainly a pretty effect and I can't wait to see it knitted up but I think I should have practiced first as this is not quite as well plied as I would have like it to be as you may well be able to see in the following close-up shot. Still I love it though and have now decided that it looks more like sea foam than iceberg colours as I initially thought. I doubt you will have too long to wait before you see the finished knitted article with this as I love it so much!


And what crafty idea was being cooked up next?

Well Artis-Anne has the finished results posted on her blog but I thought you might like to see the progress shots. And having seen what hers looked like spun up I fancy having a play with mine and think I might start off with this one:


So that's it for now - I'm off to try and remember where I tidied my hand carders away and have a play with some of that sheep fluff.

I will at some point show off my new yarns, I haven't forgotten it's just not really a very good light to be able to photograph it well for you so I'll try to pose it nicely for you in a better light tomorrow. Sorry to be fussy but am getting bored of photos of stuff on my dining table! Anyway, back to this sheep fluff.....

10 comments:

Joanna said...

Love the felted necklaces, and especially like the beaded seafoam, can't wait to see that knitted up, my you've been having some fun!

Seahorse said...

You two are so talented! I'm very envious of you sharing so much!

I absolutely love the beaded yarn - just gorgeous :)

Alice said...

Wow - the necklace is brilliant! Well, it all is - Keep inspiring us all!

belaybunny said...

the necklace is great. am very envious of the beaded yarn, it looks gorgeous. maybe a hat for your little one?

artyfartykat said...

What a wonderful way to share some time with your mum! And what wonderful results!
The handspun yarn with beads is fab! The colours are gorgeous and I can't wait to see what you knit with it.
I'm looking forward to meeting you at Woolfest, as we are hopefully staying at the same campsite!
We'll have to have a knit in!

acrylik said...

What an amazing time you both had - very inspiring. I just love the felted necklace.

feltedfibers said...

Hi, love the felted necklace. The beaded yarn is very pretty, look forward to seeing it knitted up! something else to put on my "todo" list :-)

Marina Sokolova said...

what a beatiful yarn with beads!

Linda said...

Wow, that beaded handspun is lovely! And the felted necklaces are great.

Sarah said...

Wow! The felted necklaces are amazing! So unusual. I love the beaded yarn too. You and your Mum really are talented.