Niddy noddy

peg bag

noreply@blogger.com (lettuce) — Sat, 05 Dec 2009 16:07:00 +0000

I've been crocheting with plastic bags again - annoying my family by making noisey rustling noises whilst watching TV.

This is a replacement peg bag for a friend - the one I made him a few years ago has worn out.

One day maybe there will be no more plastic bags, which will be a good thing - but in the meantime, I love making these.

I tried to be a bit neater this time, and looked up some instructions an' all. I was quite pleased with my square base

but from thereon up - pretty wonky!

Still, I don't suppose straightness and neatness matter too much, for a peg bag..

The the best method I've come across for cutting the bags into strips is here - and this lady's work is proof that plastic bag crochet doesn't have to be either untidy or wonky - look at her sea creatures. Her work is just amazing.

Also, this method of cutting up bags is less rustley than other methods I've tried. Though my family might tell you otherwise.

If you like crochet and haven't had a go at crocheting with plastic bags - do try! really. Its so much fun. It leads to aquisitive eyeing up of other peoples' plastic bags whilst shopping - but really, its worth the risk.

felt making

noreply@blogger.com (lettuce) — Sat, 19 Sep 2009 10:33:00 +0000

There is a great felt-making tutorial over on Jasmine's blog.

And this is the latest hand-knitted and washing machine-felted (the easy way) bag which I'm selling on made4aid.

And finally - I am so neglecting this blog that i'm not sure anyone looks at it any more.... let me know if thats not the case?

knitted felted bags

noreply@blogger.com (lettuce) — Thu, 06 Aug 2009 06:07:00 +0000

One of the projects I've been working on lately is knitted felted bags, which I've been making for made4aid.

These are so satisfying to make! and especially as I'm using up bits and pieces of yarn which I've been hoarding for years and years... plus the odd find from a charity shop or car boot fair, plus some recycled yarn, reclaimed from other things.

So, here are some ideas and guidelines based on what I've done.

The first thing to say is that I've found making bags like this to be a very very forgiving process. I've been knitting with a few strands of yarn combined - which helps with using up leftovers, and mixing colours that match. But using yarns of different weights and thicknesses doesn't seem to matter. Different kinds of wool felt differently, but this also doesn't seem to matter. Unevenness in yarn or knitting evens out in the felting process. The saying that "it will all come out all right in the wash" is most definately true for this process!

The bags before felting look unshapely and baggy - but the felting process transforms them. And if they come out of the machine looking rather lopsided (they almost certainly will), this doesn't matter as they can be shaped while they dry. So you don't need to be an expert or experienced knitter to try this, or a beautifully consistent and even knitter. But, if you don't like unpredictability or if you want to be sure of the size of the bag you will end up with, this might not be a project for you.

So, the first thing I do is choose which yarns and colours to work with. You do need to use all-wool yarns. One of the bags I made had a little yarn which was obviously mixed fibres, and it only partly felted. The resulting effect was quite nice, but I'd be cautious about using wool you are not sure of, especially for starters. But if you're not sure, knit a square, bung it in the washing machine, and see what it does! Some other animal fibres - eg. alpaca - also felt very well.

I am combining anything from 3 to 8 strands of wool together while I knit, as I have some cones of quite fine wool to use up. But the number of strands can vary, I don't necessarily use the same throughout.

I'd suggest that you start with this bag pattern, which was the first one I used and which gave me a good start, though I used 5.5 mm needles as I couldn't find my 6.5mm ones... And I made the colour stripes wider than the pattern suggests.

If you are new to felting, there is a useful piece about felting in the washing machine here for front-loading machines, and here for top-loading. Its certainly worth experimenting a bit first, knitting little squares and putting them through the wash - as much for reassurance as anything - so that you can see what happens and get some idea of how much it will shrink.

If your bag doesn't shrink enough first time, I'd suggest you put it through a second wash at the same temperature - it will shrink still further - though going to a higher temperature will have a more dramatic effect. My advice would be to start with cooler washes - you can always put the bag through twice to felt it more. But once tightly felted and shrunk on a hot wash, there isn't too much you can do about stretching it to make it much larger again.

In the UK we have front-loading washing machines, so can't keep checking on how far the knitting has felted. But whether or not you want to keep checking depends how definate an idea you have of the result you want. My bags tend to be left rather to chance...

I also leave the bags in the machine through a short spin cycle and I think this possibly makes it easier to start shaping them right away, which is more difficult when they are very wet.

I tried this first bag carefully in a 30' wash, which wasn't enough. Then 40', then 60'. In the end it went through at 90' to get the result I wanted. But I have found since then that 60' is usually about right.

Shaping the bags while they dry makes a huge difference to the end result. I have used cake tins, books, jigsaw puzzle boxes.... anything the right dimensions. Some I have left hanging up, where I want the handles to stretch to be a a little longer.
Felt is very tough and its okay to really force in a box or tin which doesn't seem to quite fit.... the wool will give a little bit, and drying fairly tightly stretched gives the bag a nicely defined shape.

This grey stripey bag was about 15 by 17" before felting, and about 12 by 12 afterwards.

The only other change I made to this pattern was to add a little internal felt pocket afterwards, using a square of wool I'd knitted and felted as a test, plus 2 vintage fabric pockets.

This next bag was knitted to the same pattern, but with an intarsia type of colour pattern (stranding colours across the back) and using 6.5mm needles as the pattern says.

On this bag I experimented with knitting pockets as part of the bag before felting - picking up stitches from the bag along where I wanted the bottom of the pocket to be, knitting a square or rectangle straight up and then attaching the sides of the knitted pocket to the bag. This bag has one little mobile phone pocket on the outside, and 2 internal pockets. The blanket stitch around the external pocket was because I thought the join looked a bit bumpy and lumpy - I have since then got better at stitching the pockets on so that the join is more invisible after felting.

Before felting I tack some pieces of cotton fabric inside the pockets to stop them felting closed for ever.

These first two bags were sold on Joyce's Bags for Darfur blog - which was the inspiration for made4aid.

Same pattern, 3rd bag, 6.5mm needles - this one was 14.5 inches by 16 inches before felting, handles 33.5 inches.
After felting it was 10.25 inches by 11.75, and the handles were 30". On this one I just did external pockets in knitting, and then lined with fabric including internal pockets.

I put this one recklessly into a 90' wash and it did felt a bit smaller than I'd wanted. But I'm really pleased with the result, its a nice size and shape (though I am now routinely starting with 40 or 60' washes though, just in case....).

The second knitting pattern I tried was this one. This looks really too large and shapeless once knitted being done on 9mm needles - but once again, it came out transformed.

I wanted a gusset in this bag, so allowed an extra 3 inches or so on the total length you knit, to allow for the base of the bag. Then after knitting the main body of the bag, I worked out where the base would be - 1.5 inches either side of the midway point. Picking up stitches along this bit of the bag I then knitted up a long enough strip on each side to reach the top edge and then sewed them into place.

This bag was felted at 90' - I forgot to measure it before washing, but after washing it is 18.5 inches wide, 11 inches deep with handles nearly 30".

And here is another, same pattern with the added gusset, and knitted felted pockets. This came out really nicely textured because of the way the intarsia stranding had felted, and this was the first item sold on made4aid.

The 3rd pattern I tried was adapted from this textiles book - the base is knitted first, then you simply pick up stitches around the edge of the base and then knit up in stocking stitch until the bag is tall enough (about 15 inches), do a few rows of garter stitch for a slightly thicker top edge. Add handles, and pick up some stitches in the middle of one edge to knit a little button tab.

This is also a nice easy pattern which would be good for beginners to this process.

This is knitted on 9mm needles. The pattern suggests using a double strand of 8-ply / double knitting wool though I have used my usual combination of bits and pieces.

The base was 45 stitches, and 34 rows in garter stitch and stitches are picked up around the base - 45 stitches on each of the long ends, and about 15 (one every other row) on the short ends. I took the handles from the second pattern I've linked to above but you could instead use the handle instructions from the first pattern.

Before washing the bag was 22 inches measured across flat, the base was 18.25 inches by 6 inches, the bag was 15 inches deep from the base to the top edge and the handles were 44 inches long.

Here is the bag before felting :

with the handles, button tab and the external pocket.

and here it is after felting, which was done in a 60' wash
- it is drying now as I write this, with some jigsaw puzzles and books inside it to keep it nicely shaped.

And after felting the dimensions are: 14.5 inches wide, plus 4 inches on the sides/gusset; 11 inches deep; the base is 14.5 inches by 4.5 and the handles are 36 inches.

3 of these bags have already been sold to raise money for aid to refugees in Darfur - the others shown here, and more which are in process, will also be auctioned in the autumn/winter, so keep watching if you want to buy one... and if you're a knitter - have a go. These are so much fun to make.

SHAMELESS PROMOTION (but it is for charity....)

noreply@blogger.com (lettuce) — Sat, 13 Jun 2009 10:09:00 +0000

made4aid

is launching now!

made4aid is a new charity project I've been working on with some friends, and we're launching now. Yes, right now! This is evidence of the power and reality of blogging because the inspiration for this project was a blog-friend (who I hope to meet in person one day), Joyce, who I met on Blunderview, when my mother was dying and her brother was dying, both from cancer. I think we both found some strength and comfort and solidarity in each other's blogs - certainly I did over at Joyce's, plus wisdom and warmth and lots of humour. Another friend met through blogging has done various web things too complicated for me, and has set up the made4aid blog and will be helping to run it. The inspiration for made4aid comes from Joyce's project which you will find over here, which raises money for the World Food Programme's work in Darfur by selling Joyce's fabulous hand-made vintage-fabric bags.

made4aid will be starting its own on-line auctions to raise money for charity

- on MONDAY June 15th

via the made4aid blog.

We have some great hand-made art and craft items which were made, found and given or mailed to us by a range of people.

We will be selling via the made4aid blog - please look over there from Monday 15th - I hope you'll see something you might like to bid on. We are planning to post an item every other day. Or thereabouts. We will be selling till we run out of items - but then, we are hoping to receive donations of more items to sell to keep the project going, and hopefully growing.

We will be sending money raised to the World Food programme in Darfur, in the first instance - if the project finds its feet and has legs, as they say, we would support other causes in the future.

There are all sorts of ways you could contribute if you are willing and able to help, whether or not you are arty or crafty yourself - telling other people, giving, buying, giving us a mention and link on your blog ....

Anything hand-made and postable and good quality/condition can be donated, whether or not you made it yourself (a few exceptions... here are more ideas of what could be given and what we would rather not be sent).

Plus we will accept and sell materials for artist and crafters to use. And vintage hand-made items... The website has details of how and where to mail donations - and hopefully any other information which might be needed.

This is an entirely non-profit-making voluntary organisation, all money will go to charity and aid. And yes! we will also accept cash donations. Cash donations would go to charity, but also en route would help us raise the funds we need to open a made4aid Charity Aid Foundation account and then, in the future, hopefully to register as a charity.

if you lovely bloggers are willing to help promote made4aid, we will be very grateful.

Please pass the word along to any one you know, any individuals and groups who might like to donate and/or buy things.

If you are willing to plug us on your blog or website, that would be fab. The made4aid website has a flier which can be downloaded, and the made4aid blog will soon have html for a button which you could cut and paste onto your blog or website.

If you have feedback on the project, on the website or blog - especially anything which is unclear - please email us. There is contact information on the website.

And.... I'd best not go on about this any longer.

Its very exciting!

It seems to us like a good idea but, fingers crossed - we will have to wait and see.

Note on pictures: the photos here illustrate the kinds of things we hope to be selling, not particular items for sale - though we do have some items made by artists whose work is shown here. There are details of the sources of these images on the website.

weaving bags

noreply@blogger.com (lettuce) — Sun, 07 Jun 2009 21:35:00 +0000

I am going to post instructions for weaving bags like the ones pictured in the previous post, as promised. I've been sat down with my notes and a set of instructions and diagrams which I have used before and adapted and I started typing and it all seemed very long-winded. So I've decided the best way to give you instructions is to weave another myself, take photos, and post those.

So... there will be a little further delay, sorry.

But in the meantime, this link has a great method for cutting plastic bags into strips for weaving, crochet etc.....

Her sea creatures and other creations on flickr are just fabulous.

And here are some other bags I have woven from rags. These were made on a custom-built wooden bag frame but they could also have been woven on a box.

plastic bag bags

noreply@blogger.com (lettuce) — Sun, 10 May 2009 16:36:00 +0000

These are bags I made a few years ago - kind of itching to do some more, but the time goes SO QUICKLY.

They are woven from plastic bags cut into strips (I once promised to post suggestions for the best way to cut the bags into strips, will try and fulfil that promise soon).
The warp is a multicoloured man-made yarn of some kind - good colour, though it was a bit slippery.

Woven on a box - wrapping the yarn around the box creates the warp threads, and then the plastic "yarn" is just woven through as weft, I did it using an upholstery needle.

If anyone reads this and would like more instructions on weaving on a box, please leave a comment and I'll try to find the instructions I used and scan and post them here.

Once the weaving was done, I ironed the boxes on a moderate heat, with greaseproof paper between the iron and the plastic - it melts and fuses the plastic, gives a nice effect. The diamond shape on at least one of these bags was where I left a bit un-ironed.
The handles are cord, wrapped around with plastic.

Et voila! I don't know how well these wear - I've given a few away, and the one I kept is used for knitting/sewing storage at the moment.

They are really fun to make.

hanging up/out

noreply@blogger.com (lettuce) — Sun, 26 Apr 2009 08:18:00 +0000

These are the latest bags I've knitted and felted in the machine - hanging up to dry with boxes/books to keep them in shape.

I'm pleased with these, though the felting process is still rather random - keeps it exciting though!

These are for the made4aid project.

And, in the background, you can see the washing machine - its a lovely sunny day, I must go and hang out sheets to dry as well!

Braid bag

noreply@blogger.com (lettuce) — Sat, 25 Apr 2009 09:05:00 +0000

This is a bag I made some years ago

(don't want to check how many, danger of finding out its at least twice as long as I might imagine...).

I was doing a City & Guilds course in weaving and design, a fantastic course at a local college - and this project was to demonstrate particular weaving skills and to develop a working design and produce a finished product based on an art-board on the theme of Water.

The bag is made of a number of narrow, flat inkle braids [about an inch wide] - made on a loom like this, but much smaller - and the braids were then sewed together vertically.

A lot of my work is given away but this is one item I've kept and enjoyed using myself.

catching up

noreply@blogger.com (lettuce) — Thu, 23 Apr 2009 17:54:00 +0000

I've just been looking over all my previous posts.

All of them.

Since I began this blog in May 2006.

It didn't take long.

I've been so intermittent and inconsistent with posting here - 3 years, and not an awful lot of posts.

So, I'm going to try and catch up a bit by doing some posts on things I've made in the past, which I haven't blogged.

I have put photos of some of these on flickr. But there are things I made before I began using a digital camera - so, I have scanning plans too.

The first item in my catch-up retrospective is this baby shawl, which I knitted while pregnant 15 years ago.

It is a traditional pattern from the Shetland islands, off the far coast of Scotland, and the source of fairaisle patterns and a multitude of other wonderful textile skills and traditions.

I loved knitting this - I enjoy stitch patterns and knitting in the round. Trying to remember how the pattern went, I think the middle was knitted straight in moss stitch and then the rest was knitted around the edge on circular needles.

The pattern and yarn came from here and the shawl is now safely stashed away for future generations (what a funny thought, future generations).

2nd knitted felted bag

noreply@blogger.com (lettuce) — Sun, 22 Feb 2009 11:40:00 +0000

This was the same pattern as the previous. I used larger needles - and oh it didn't half look saggy and baggy before washing!

And then after a 90' wash, it was quite nice..... but I decided that I wanted it a bit more felted and solid. Another wash at 60' did the job nicely - felting in the machine seems to be a pretty forgiving process, and stretching and pressing the bag on a cake tin helped to square it up and get rid of a couple of bumps and bulges.

Having not thought about pockets when I knitted the previous bag, I gave more thought to this one and picked up and knitted some woollen pockets - one on the outside phone/MP3 size, two on the inside. I tacked some cotton inside the pockets before felting, so that they didn't fuse onto the bag itself.

They worked pretty well, though I do also like the combination of fabric pockets with wool bags.

This bag, the previous, and 2 very different woven bags are on their way to Joyce, and will hopefully be auctioned on her Darfur blog at some stage - keep a look out!

knitted felted bag

noreply@blogger.com (lettuce) — Thu, 05 Feb 2009 09:55:00 +0000

l

This is my first completed knitted and felted bag - its a great pattern, from here
and I've been able to start using up some huge cones of fine but rather boring wool. Combined and knitted at least 3 or 4 strands together makes them much more interesting.

This felted well - the stitches are just about discernable, but it looks more felty than knitty. I tried felting at 30 or 40', but it just wasn't good enough. So in the end, I just put this (in a pillow case) into a 90' wash with a sheet, and then when it came out left it to dry over a cake tin which was just right for size - this helped give it a good shape, esp. around the base.

I knitted this on 5.5mm needles, I think the pattern says larger? I've just felted the 2nd bag, which I knitted on 6.5 but its not felted as well, I'll use the smaller needles next time.

I'd not thought ahead about pockets - and didn't think it needed lining. So I added some pockets in vintage fabric, and one little felt pocket.

update

noreply@blogger.com (lettuce) — Tue, 16 Dec 2008 17:08:00 +0000

I'm getting accustomed to the colours of my warp, the length for the second bag worked quite well I think, in greens

and the third is going okay, in pinks.

I'm bearing in mind the possibility of painting/dying a stretch of warp to change the colour options - I'd like this warp much better I think if the yellow/cream was blue instead. But for the time being I'll carry on with the existing... I'm having to think much more about the colours - more experimentation, weaving then undoing sometimes.... so its stretching me, at the very least.

And I've finished the little chair seat for LG, which I'm really pleased with.

It will now go up to her bedroom to sit by her bedside and be buried under a pile of books, papers, make-up, dirty plates, tissues.....

:-/

pastel

noreply@blogger.com (lettuce) — Tue, 02 Dec 2008 20:36:00 +0000

Well I've started weaving my latest set of bags, and feel rather foolish because having put the warp

on the loom
I'm not very happy with the colours.

silly me.

I was partly going for colours that would allow for a lot of variation in the weft - making each bag very different.

And I was partly pushing myself to use colours rather different from my usual very blueygreeney preferences.

And I was partly seduced by the sale items when I bought the yarns...

and maybe its partly to do with buying online, without seeing the colours myself in reality...

Anyway.

I will make the best of it and hope that they are colours other people will like, even if they are not my natural preference.

My first sample looked like this:

This will be the first bag - one side:

and the other side:

I wove this one in fairly neutral, soft, "calm" colours to let the pattern emerge, and for me to get accustomed to this warp a bit.

I plan to weave the next one in much more funky yarns and colours - green, again, but maybe bright lime green - and possibly loud pink too?

After that, I'll move on to blues, purples maybe. I'm wondering how it would look with grey weft, or even black. I think its probably quite good for me to have to work with a rather different palette from what I would normally choose, I just hope they turn out okay.

The textures are quite nice, I'm using some chenille and some shiny yarns. If only I could get to like the colours a bit more...

ends and beginnings

noreply@blogger.com (lettuce) — Fri, 07 Nov 2008 17:01:00 +0000

ha! did i ever kid myself that this blog would be sort-of-monthly?

but I am now feeling very crafty indeed, after months of only very little crafty time due to travelling (good) and taking pictures (good) and working very hard (bad).

The chair seat I'm weaving for LG's little bedside chair is getting closed to finished now:

and I've got most of the old varnish off the chair itself. It needs a bit more sanding, but is almost ready:

There will, before long, be pictures here of the finished chair.

I LOVE doing these chair seats.

I am also determined to spend more time on the piece I have on my loom here at home, and I will be putting a new warp on a loom at college to make some more little bags, a bit like these.... to hopefully go over here and be auctioned....

About which I larfed! as I thought of doing these little bags using up yarns I have already as this is supposedly one of the guiding criteria for future projects. Until the cupboard is bare.

I then discovered that the only yarns I really have in sufficient quantity to make a long warp are wools, and I really wanted to use cottons.

So... I wandered over to here and who knew? they had a sale on! I bought a whole lot of lovely cottons and chenille on special offer.

So... I have added to my stock of yarns.... against all my resolutions. The cupboard fills up again faster than it empties.

So... I am feeling naughty but also rather pleased with myself.

BUT I have plans also for the wools, which is to knit bags and then felt them.

Which seems like a nice little crafty cosy wintery project.

So if i don't post here for another 6 months, lets hope its because I'm busy being very crafty indeed.

bags for darfur

noreply@blogger.com (lettuce) — Fri, 11 Apr 2008 18:18:00 +0000

Check out these fabulous bags, made by Joyce of Blunderview.

She is making and selling the bags to raise money for Darfur which is a heartbreaking and imperative cause - and the bags are just wonderful.

Please pass on the news/link, buy, advertise on your blogs... whatever.... if you want to.

previous next

noreply@blogger.com (lettuce) — Fri, 14 Mar 2008 05:16:00 +0000

Both my chair seats are finished now, being sat on regularly and looking no worse for it.

My next project is to renovate a little chair which LG has by her bedside - the wood needs some work, which I'll enjoy doing. And the seat needs replacing. Yay!

I so enjoyed doing the chairs i've just finished, I was delighted to think of doing this one too.

Its a little old dressing-table chair. And its been buried under such a tower of books, magazines, old plates of toast etcetcetc that I'd not realised what a state it was in.

Of course, being for LG, the colour scheme will be various shades of black, with possibly some black and/or purple. Goth as possible.

should be fun. I will keep you informed....

in the meantime, I am still knitting string bags.
Not yet having done the preparation I need to do on the chair before I can begin weaving, I spent today's weaving class spinning. I have so many bits and pieces of fibres around, bought in sales, shows etc.... needing to be spinned - its one of my favourite in-between-project activities.

Today I was spinning silk noiles - raw silk.
like this

And I think I might try plying some of this with some of my lovely hemp, to use for my next string bag.

tiny toes

noreply@blogger.com (lettuce) — Mon, 03 Mar 2008 20:25:00 +0000

For our new nephew, Aidan, who we will see in about 3 weeks when we visit family over Easter.

i just love knitting baby things!

string bags

noreply@blogger.com (lettuce) — Sun, 10 Feb 2008 01:28:00 +0000

I've enjoyed myself so much making more string bags for few of my friends - knitting in hemp, with some novelty yarns I bought a long while ago, which have been languishing in my yarn cupboard, waiting for their time.

Which is here - this is the perfect use for them, - and they go so well with the hemp.

And here are some fab. chocolate vintage buttons whch I was given for Christmas - from Hotel Chocolat.

Delectable and delicious.

ta da!

noreply@blogger.com (lettuce) — Fri, 28 Dec 2007 22:20:00 +0000

Viola!
my chair is finished.

I'm so very very happy with it and feeling rather smug.

But t'was easy, really - see the previous few posts for some ideas as to how I did it, I'll be looking with a new eye at old furniture in junk shops and at the boot fair - and I'd encourage you to do the same.

Easy peasey lemon squeezy - it remains to be seen, of course, how durable it is but the hemp is very strong, we have no cats now to shred it, lets just hope that the mice don't see its potential as a cosy nesting place.

progress

noreply@blogger.com (lettuce) — Mon, 10 Dec 2007 06:34:00 +0000

These are fairly up-to-date photos of my progress on the chair. I might even have finished it last week, if I'd not run out of plied hemp - I had to move onto a spinning wheel to do some more.

I've also made a string bag with the same hemp - though with 3 strands plied rather than the 9 strands I'm using for the chair seats.
I found the pattern and instructions (via Tut-Tut's blog) here - this is a great website, full of ideas and inspiration for all sorts of yarn crafts.

I enjoyed making this bag - at least, I did after the first few rows where I kept gaining and/or losing stitches. Its pretty quick and very satisfying to make - and nice to use.

I'm thinking of plying some hemp together with some nice shiny gold thread, or some novelty tufted threads, to make some more of these for Christmas gifts.

Its really nice to be knitting again.

more slippage...

noreply@blogger.com (lettuce) — Wed, 05 Dec 2007 18:56:00 +0000

oh dear, my intentions of more regular posting here have really slipped, haven't they?

I plead busy-ness at work, and guests in the spare (loom) room. But I have done a bit more on my current "must get it finished" project at home. And I'm having a ball with the weaving of my chair seats at my Thursday class - its such a great project, I'm loving doing something quite different, and I think they are going to look fab.

These pics are not very up to date, I've got quite a bit further than this now, will take more pics tomorrow. The pictures here show the warp wrapped around the chair seat from back to front, over a wrap of velvet to pad the chair-frame, and the layer which I wove across on the bottom layer of the warps - the chair seat itself will be woven on only the top layer.

Having woven a bottom layer (for extra back-up strength when sat upon), I lined it with a piece of blue fabric which you can see here - and now, as I weave the top layer, I am stuffing the gap in between the two layers with rags. This is giving a really nice padded finish.

No matter how busy and tired I am, Thursdays are happy happy days!

bums on seats

noreply@blogger.com (lettuce) — Fri, 09 Nov 2007 00:51:00 +0000

Oh dear, my weekly intentions have slipped.

However, I've done over 2 1/2 inches since my last post.
V. pleased with self. And enjoying the weaving.

I've not been keeping track of how much I've woven in total as I'll just keep going till I get to the end of the warp. So - don't know how much warp is left. But really feel as if I'm making progress.

My next project at my textiles class is to weave new seats for a couple of chairs whose lovely rush seats were ripped to shreds by our cat, years and years ago.

I'd prosaically thought of weaving some fabric and then attaching it in some way to the chair frame.
Marvellous Mandy suggested that I could weave straight onto the chair, using it as a frame for the warp. What a brilliant idea.

So - this is my experimental sample:

I'll be using the yarn in the bottom of this piece - hemp, with a lovely silvery texture and sheen, also very strong. This is 9 strands plied together (or rather 3 lots of 3-ply plied together) to make it stronger and chunkier. The colours in this sample are rags woven in - which I will do in the lychen-colours I'm using for the futon throw.

I've just been shaving down the corners of the frame, to make it kinder on the hemp and to make the seat more comfortable. Next week I will be carrying one of the chairs to my class to start work on it.

Its such a fun project and really nice to work on something so different - and to rescue the chairs from their bedroom-clothes-dumping hell.

I will keep you informed as to my progress.

Zero

noreply@blogger.com (lettuce) — Sat, 20 Oct 2007 19:38:00 +0000

Zero inches.

Not even any cm.

But I've been busy and out and about and, in particular, to the Knitting and Stitching show. I'd missed a few years, went last year, saw and bought gorgeous STUFF - and so too this year.

I saw the Water Aid knitted river, pictured above.

And these. Aren't they extraordinary? They are entirely embroidered, the first by Helen Parkinson and the second by Owen Davies. I'm not sure that I'd want to own one and I know I wouldn't want to make one, but they are rather marvellous.

One of the best things about the show is that it is so varied, and as well as the above, and some lovely quilting (which I couldn't photograph), there were graduate shows which included this artwork in paper (or could have been silk - the artist, Marion Glover, wasn't there at the time for me to ask):

This is a picture I liked made in felt, by A Scolding:

There was also an exhibition of the most exquisite shibori dying by Hiroshi Murase:

I bought some fibres I had specifically been after:

alpaca and silk noils for spinning and some lovely lovely hemp for plying - I'll use these for weaving or knitting.

I'm going to use some of the hemp to have a go at this string bag

And finally, some gorgeous Christmas pressies. These are made by Thai hill tribes, and sold by a couple in England who run the charity established by their daughter who died tragically young.

These bags were only £11.00, they are beautiful and a really good - and fairly traded - cause - have a look if you're thinking about Christmas shopping. Or if you're not.

There is some info about Stephanie, who founded the charity, here and further info. about it is available by email from ksdp.uk@lineone.net

weekly

noreply@blogger.com (lettuce) — Wed, 10 Oct 2007 17:24:00 +0000

Well only 2 cm more woven since my last post (I've switched to metric because 2 cm sounds more than 1 3/4 inches).

A lot of weaving measurements still seems to use imperial - one piece of weaving equipment, a reed, is bought in various imperial guages ( number of dents - gaps - per inch) but is purchased by length, a certain price per metre. Weird.

I wont be weaving at home any more this week as we'll have a friend staying in the guest room.

BUT I have finally finished - lined, with fastenings and labels - a set of bags I started over 2 years ago.

I did finish one of the set nearly a year ago so that I could give it to my niece for her birthday - and I did an earlier post about that here - so wont repeat myself.

It was a very satisfying project - not a difficult weave once the loom is set up, they were made on a basic 4 shaft table loom - and the variety is created mainly through the range of bits and pieces I used in the weft, which included bits of fabric, ribbons, novelty yarns, chenille and gimp. They were made almost entirely by using up bits and pieces I already had. Which is my other overall textiles aim at the mo - along with finishing projects.

But I'm pleased with myself - and good timing for Christmas.

Here they are:

catching up

noreply@blogger.com (lettuce) — Thu, 04 Oct 2007 05:18:00 +0000

I've just checked when I last posted. Early July - almost 3 months ago, and it feels like a lifetime.

Well, the purpose of this blog was partly to keep me going with my textiles and to get me motivated to FINISH PROJECTS.

My weaving class has just begun for the Autumn and - having not made time to plan a new project - I have been finishing off bags which (I can't believe this) I initially wove in about 2005....... I know I made the handles in May 2005, because I did a quick blog about it. I am feeling duly chastened and committed to doing more finishing.

Hence this new post. I have some weaving on my loom which was started at least 18 months ago, and I think probably more like 2 years. Or more.

probably more...

A-n-y-way.
I am weaving a throw for the futon which sits in our dining room and sometimes serves as an extra bed. I quite like the blanket which is covering it at the moment but its not big enough.

This new throw follows colours I used on one of my favourite cushions which developed out of a project I did as part of a City & Guilds course in weaving and design.

The design board was based around "Living Forms".

I found a little bit of twig covered with wonderful lychens - I particularly liked the combination of soft greenish greys, dark slatey blues and a hot bright sulphury yellow.

I don't think I'd have thought to put these colours together, but was really pleased with the weaving designs which I based on the colour scheme.

So these are the colours in the throw. The yarns are mostly cotton, or cotton / silk / linen mixes.

My loom at home weaves up to only 24" wide - so I am using a technique of weaving a number of layers at once. The layers can be joined at the sides - or on only one side or the other, as the cloth is woven. I'm weaving 4 layers - the top layer is joined to the 2nd at the right, the 2nd joins the 3rd at the left, the 3rd joins the 4th at the right - so, once woven the cloth will open out into one piece 4 times the original width.

Hopefully!

Here are the two edges of the weaving:

Its such a wonderfully clever technique (and a very old one), and its not at all as complicated to weave as it sounds (though it does need a loom with 8 shafts) - but it does grow more slowly than plain single weaving.

This is no adequate excuse for taking so very very long over it.

Neither is the fact that my loom is in the spare / guest room.

I hope to post once a week here, even if its just one line recording how much I have woven in the past week.

Today I wove over 5 inches.
This despite the fact that I spent far too long obsessively searching (and re - searching in the same places) for my weaving notebook which - though I didn't need it right now - does have useful notes of previous projects and workshops.

It was only about 10 minutes after giving up the search, when I had been weaving, relaxing, thinking, drifting... that I realised where it must be.

Who knows what I might realise and remember if I manage to start weaving regularly at home again?