Category: Craft

Throwback Thursday: crocheted dog vest

On By CarynIn Craft, dog
Photo description: Griffin the dog wearing a crocheted striped dog vest

In October of 2015 I crocheted our dog Griffin a sweater because we thought he would be cold outside with his single coat of fur. I made stripes and crocheted in the round. It came out a little snug and getting him in and out of it wasn’t fun for anyone. Turned out he didn’t care about the cold at all. I always meant to make him another bigger sweater in Gryffindor colors, because that would be funny, but he was just as happy without.

Yeah, scrolling through old pictures was a kick in the gut this time. Lots of pictures of pets that are no longer with us.

Mini spinning kits

On By CarynIn Craft

Here are my mini spinning kits! They have description cards with as much information as I could legibly fit on a 4×6 card double sided, as well as a QR code the leads to a video. They each also have a 4 inch bamboo toothpick that is the mini spindle. There are two versions, wool and cotton, and the kits have a small fluff of that fiber, enough to fill the spindle with thread. I did one animal based and one plant based since allergies are a concern with natural fibers.

Photo description: front and back of a 4×6 plastic bag containing mini spinning kits for wool, Corridale carded
Photo description: front and back of a 4×6 plastic bag containing mini spinning kits for cotton, Texas coop grown combed top

I gave these away at my recent spinning demonstration. I started with 60 and ended with 7, so the idea of spinning fiber was spread!

Toothpick spinning videos

On By CarynIn Craft

I put together two videos on how to spin thread using a toothpick, one for wool and one for cotton. In my mini spinning kits, I will have a QR code that links to these videos so anyone taking one of the freebies (or had access to a stick) can review the steps on spinning thread.

Photo description: video still of my hand holding a bit of wool and a 4 inch bamboo skewer

I say spinning thread because the toothpick can’t hold much of any yarn thicker than thread, but it can hold a decent amount of thread. Spinning thin is also easier than spinning thick.

The next step is to design the insert for the kits.

Jacob Sheep fiber page

On By CarynIn Craft

I finally mounted the samples from spinning Jacob’s sheep on a fiber page.

Photo description: Jacob’s sheep 12×12 scrap book page with four paper bobbins of spun and plied yarn, unspun roving in a bag, nålbinding swatch, knit swatch, crocheted swatch, and woven swatch

I do like spinning Jacob’s sheep wool. I like the natural color variation, and it makes me happy to see the colors spiral together. The sheep are wicked cool looking too.

My swatches are getting more consistent and closer to my 4×4 inch goal.

I think it took me so long to put this together because my fiber books are undergoing transformation, mostly in my head, but there are things I want to do differently. I have a new cover design coalescing in my brain, and I think I shouldn’t pre-cut my blank pages with my Cricut cutter, but hand cut them to fit each project. Changing that the unspun fiber goes into a bag instead of a box was a great move. Now to implement the rest.

Throwback Thursday: crocheted hems

On By CarynIn Craft

In August 2015 we bought white t-shirts for my kids to decorate with fabric markers and paint. The shirts were a little short, so I crocheted along the bottom hem to give them some length.

Photo description: white t-shirt with the handwritten words “It doesn’t matter what species you are to be friends”, with drawn hand and paws and wings and legs, with a crocheted bottom hem about three inches wide using double crochet, shell stitches, and picots
Photo description: close-up of crocheted edge showing a blanket stitch base on the original t-shirt hem, three rows of double crochet, two rows of shells, and finished with slip stitches and picots
Photo description: different white t-shirt with ivy and hummingbird stencils, and a small black cat, with a different style crocheted hem

I don’t have a closeup of the second shirt’s hem, but it does show one of the problems that can occur with an applied edge: drawing in. I prefer my shirt bottoms to be straight, or even flare out, rather than draw in, but I do like the leaf pattern. I think my kids wore their shirts at least once before they outgrew them?