Cat dog

On By CarynIn dog

This is what you get when a dog is raised around cats. Missy the dog is playing with a cat toy in a pile of gift bags.

Photo description: small black dog on a pile of non-woven cloth gift bags, with a stuffed fish toy in her mouth

I did try to get a video. As soon as Missy noticed my attention, she stopped playing. I’ll have to be more sly.

Fiber Study: Camel roving

On By CarynIn Craft
Photo description: fiber study page for camel roving from Oklahoma Mini Mill, (counterclockwise) with a card from the mill, a sample of roving, knit swatch, woven swatch with embroidery, crocheted round swatch, nålbound swatch, sprang swatch, two ply on a paper bobbin, and single ply on a paper bobbin

I assembled my camel roving fiber page! I quite like camel fiber; it is nice to spin, and soft. I would definitely work with the fiber again. In fact, I have two and a half balls of 2-ply yarn with which to plan a project. Exciting. I have also decided to add a synopsis of my blog posts about the fiber to the pages, so I can remember how I felt about the fiber. Now to figure out how to attach the printed pages. I tried some washi tape, which surprisingly doesn’t like card stock much. Hm.

Photo description: same page with the swatches lifted to reveal the hand written descriptions

The roving sample isn’t as perfect as it came from the mill; I liked spinning so much I forgot to leave a bit unspun. The fiber in the box was spun, and then I brushed it back open. Oops.

Uh oh

On By CarynIn Cats, Craft

Well, I thought Thor the cat was mostly interested in wool, but I found this former ball of linen yarn out of its bag and in another room from where I left it.

Photo description: loose tangle of orange colored hand spun linen yarn on the concrete floor in front of a closed door

Here is the culprit, looking pleased with himself on Griffin the dog’s bed.

Photo description: large gray tabby cat in a larger brown faux fur pet bed

I don’t believe he ingested any yarn, and I was able to wind the tangle back into a neat ball without any knots. The yarn ball is back in the project bag, and hung up where the cat can’t stick his head into it. Yeah, I love yarn and I love cats and cats love yarn. It is a timeless love triangle.

A bit of Sprang

On By CarynIn Craft

I used my small sprang loom to make a swatch with hand spun camel yarn.

Photo description: bent branch Sprang loom with interlinked 2 ply camel yarn nearly completed

To finish the middle, I tried a method I saw in a Sprang group that uses an Kitchner-like stitch to secure the warp threads. In knitting, the Kitchner stitch is a grafting method that takes the yarn in a winding path under and over two alternating strands at a time.

Photo description: binding off the Sprang by stitching

I finished the ends by pulling a section of yarn through the loops, doubling it, then wrapping the resulting circle with more yarn, forming a grommet.

Photo description: the end of the sprang swatch formed into a yarn grommet
Photo description: fresh off the loom unblocked Sprang swatch showing the tendency to twist
Photo description: same Sprang swatch laying flat after blocking (getting it wet and pinning it to a drying rack)
Photo description: Sprang swatch pulled horizontally open to show the interlinked warp strands

I quite like the grommet finish for the ends, I’m sure I’ll think of a use for the structure eventually. I don’t care for how messy the center stitches look when the fabric is stretched. I like the chain method less, though. Experiments will continue.

Weaving: camel

On By CarynIn Craft

I used my Clover mini loom to weave a swatch of my two ply hand spun camel yarn. I like to double the warp and I chose a plain weave this time. I start and end my weaving with a twined row to help keep the ends in place.

Photo description: 2 ply camel yarn warped onto a Clover mini loom

To finish, I used an embroidery needle to run the looped warp ends back through the weft on the back. I rather like the ribbed edge created by doing so. I added an embroidered daisy with a stem and leaf because the front looked rather plain. The daisy and leaf are done with a lazy daisy stitch, and the stem is a stem stitch, which amuses me.

Photo description: back of the small woven swatch showing the woven in loops and the back of the embroidery
Photo description: front of the small weaving swatch done in hand spun camel yarn with five petal daisy, stem, and leaf, Missy the dog looking on in the background

It is interesting that the color of the yarn looks different in each picture. In real life, the color is a soft brown quite like milk chocolate. I did try to color adjust the final picture. I suspect the radical difference in backgrounds is the primary suspect for the color shift.