Category: Craft

Toy field trip

On By CarynIn Cats, Craft

Thor the technical kitten (since he is still under a year old), likes to carry around his toys. One of his favorites is a wrist warmer that I nålbound from home spun bison down. Materials alone make it a pricey toy, but if time invested is considered, it vaults into precious territory. Apparently he took it on a field trip to the catio, then back inside, because I found it on the rug covered in dried grass.

Photo description: Brown wrist warmer made from American Bison fiber, covered with bits of dried grass. There is some felting, and a couple pulled loops in the fabric.

Allowing the wrist warmer to become a toy was a calculated event. The one donated to the cat was a tight fit and I wasn’t wearing the pair. Now it becomes a test of how durable I made the spinning and nålbinding. I’m actually quite amazed that it is holding up to kitten attentions as well as it is.

Restoration update

On By CarynIn Craft

I’m still regularly oiling the Singer 27 treadle machine and attempting to remove more parts for cleaning. My husband has been helping, and he was able to free several bolts! I did take a tool to a thumb screw for the back plate; I figured if it was going to break, better that I’m the one that breaks it. I wrapped the knob in leather, then used an adjustable wrench, and slowly turned the screw. Success!

Photo description: Large adjustable wrench on the bottom, next to a very rusty back plate, next to a small knurled knob that held the plate in place on the machine, and at the top, a 1/2” strip of tooling leather

I photograph all the removed parts and put them in a labeled ziplock bag with a spray of PB blaster. When I get all the parts free, I’ll clean everything before putting it back together (fingers crossed).

Spinning demonstration

On By CarynIn Craft

I volunteered at the Mansfield Founder’s Day Festival recently, demonstrating spinning on a drop spindle and helping people try it out for themselves. I even sold a few spinning starter kits! The Man House was setup beautifully, and I was quite spoiled with a tent, table, and chairs already setup for me. The hands-on spinning was popular, and there were wows over the animal-to-wearable knit alpaca shawl I brought, but the biggest hit was my fiber book. I’m glad I set it up consistently with multiple touchable swatches; it made it both visual and tactile friendly. My book held up great for the seven hours of the event!

Photo description: Canvas, 2×4, and rope canopy setup in mowed grass with a covered table and chairs setup underneath. On the table I put my alpaca shawl, a basket of wool nests, three practice spindles, a basket of starter kits, and my fiber book.
Photo description: Four drop spindles, the three on the left have Corriedale wool spun by many hands, the one on the right has Shetland wool spun by me between helping sessions.

Custom packaging

On By CarynIn Craft, Life Hack

As much as I love cloth bags, sometimes you need packaging you can see through that is inexpensive. For my spinning starter kits I needed a long narrow plastic bag. I have a whole bundle of large clear plastic bags, but they are twice as wide as I needed for this application. I found that if I ran my quilting mini iron, set to high, down the center of the bags, it was enough to melt and separate the bag into two, with a well sealed seam. The iron does come with a blade attachment, but the blade cut the plastic too fast and didn’t heat the plastic up enough to melt it.

Photo description: Cork squares laid down on the table to protect the surface, two newly created long narrow plastic bags, with a mini iron to the side, blade assembly unused.
Photo description: Same table with one bag filled with a spindle and three samples of different animal fibers.
Photo description: Two completed Spinning starter packs, with insert containing instructions and resources.

I tied off my bags with some of my old hand-spun yarn oddments. Another good use for left-over yarn!

Mixed stitch baby hat

On By CarynIn Craft

I started making a baby hat in my preferred manner, with double crochet stitches from the crown, and I realized that I could pick up and knit once I had the circumference the right size, and not have to do any knit increases. I knit for while, then switched to a ribbed pattern to give the hat some more elasticity and holding power.

Photo description: Gray tabby kitten biting circular knitting needles. He was removed from my lap after the picture, and is learning that knit time is not play time.

Then came the dreaded bind-off. What if I nålbound the live knit stitches? It works and may be my new favorite bind-off.

Photo description: Using the Telemark nålbinding stitch in white to bind off knitting in red sock weight yarn. Nal in hand, sleepy cat in the background.

I do need to spend some quality time with the nålbinding join to make it neat, and it would be easier in a less complicated stitch than Telemark, but I like the woven look of the stitch.

Photo description: Rec and white baby hat done with crochet, knitting, and nålbinding. Calico cat as the background.

Then, to add a little pizazz, I did some simple lazy daisy stitches around the crown in white.

Photo description: Baby hat in red and white merino super-wash fingering weight yarn with crocheted crown, knit sides, nålbound brim, and embroidery.