A Design Adventure

I have officially burnt out 2 short of something I need. In case I have any cyber-stalkers, that is all that I am comfortable saying. I tried so hard to work on them yesterday, and it just did not happen. So I pulled out the bulky wool in my stash to see what I could do with it.

A Yarn...

Well, the beautiful cop that I showed off in the last post was quite a pain to actually ply. I decided against documenting that particular part of my journey and just sharing the beautiful yarn! Its not entirely what I envisioned. That being said I'm not entirely sure what I was expecting!

My first truly beautiful cop...

I was just so stunned as I wound this on. This is also the first time I've spun with a multicolored bit of fiber and it was magical!

Here is another view, mainly to show off the beautiful spindle.

Lilly Valley Bag

Here is the first draft of a felted bag of original design. My sincere apologies for the lack of photographs at this time.

This bag was inspired a bit by the shape of the calla lily and the desire for lots of pockets. While first knitting this piece, I was afraid I would run out of yarn and these pockets are not as deep and functional as I originally envisioned. Keep on the look out for this bags big sister in the future.

Materials Needed:

• approximately 8 ounces bulky weight wool (two colors works well, but is not required)
• size US 11 24 inch circular needle

spunning images...

I don't have many images of my spinning yet, but here are the two I've grabbed with my cell phone's camera.

This was the first baby sized hank of yarn that I ever created. This historic photograph was quickly texted around to friends and family for bragging purposes.

Stitches...

Yesterday, I spent the day at Stitches West. In the morning I helped at my friend Debbi's booth. The booth was a bit crowded since she was sharing with Slipped Stitch Studios (who are fabulous by the way), so I ended up learning to spin on a drop spindle standing in the walkway. Lots of people would stop and ask me questions that I was completely unable to answer due to the fact that I had just learned to spin moments earlier. I think it helped get some folks in to look at Debbi's beautiful fiber!

So the spinning lesson actually resulted in a nice looking fairly balance yarn. Its currently hanging in my living room drying. Now that first mini-skien of yarn was made with BFL with me parking the spindle to draft out more fiber. It was a lot like belaying actually. One hand needed to act as a break to stop the twist from going too high up into the undrafted fiber, while the other hand would (theoretically) draft more fiber to be spun. This process was slow for me because I would stop the spindle from spinning before drafting more fiber. It did become smoother, but the stop and go seemed to interrupt the flow of the yarn making it more dramatically thick and thin. I also noticed that I would switch my break hand from left to right. I just couldn't decide!

After I spun up the bit of fiber Debbi gave me, I plied it (after nearly strangling my hand off). Then, I stashed my little baby skien into my bag and went off a-shopping. I had no idea what I was looking for and just wandered around. I met up with some ladies I knit with on a weekly basis and they helped give me some direction.

We ended up at A Verb For Keeping Warm, which was nice since I'd already met some of them at the knitting night. At this point, I learned about spinning with something to do with a fold (remember when you were learning to knit and only caught about half of the names of things). This process involved folding the roving over your index finger, containing the two fluffy ends with the ring and pinky finger, and pinching the leading edge of the fiber into a vortex with the middle finger and thumb. I enjoyed this method because it felt so much smoother than having to park the spindle in order to draft out more yarn. Though, I must say this method requires a third hand at some points.

So I ended up coming home with lots of pretty fiber, a small project bag with hot half naked cowboys (I just couldn't leave without them) and a lovely Kundert spindle. I cannot say that I've played with any of this without the watchful eyes of those more skilled in this area than me, but I've really enjoyed petting it (yes spindle included).

The Beginning....

Well only of the blog. Its not the beginning of my knitting, crocheting, sewing or creation.

Through my many years of knitting, I keep returning to the idea of creating my own bags using sticks and strings. I've made bags with nothing more than my imagination at first. Then I found a couple of published patterns that tickled my fancy. After a couple of published patterns, I'd come up with something that I just couldn't quite find. Or I would see a few elements of different bags that I like, then I would combine all that I liked into one bag. I have finally come to a place where I've made a few things up that other knitters (and even non-knitters) have commented on. Let me just tell you, if I had a dime for every time I've heard "and you still need a day job?!?" Well then I really wouldn't need a day job, would I?

In the coming months, I'm hoping to be able to read up more on design, throw a couple patterns out into the world, and learn to spin yarn. Yeah that last one will be a guilty pleasure for me that you will just be able to read about :) Hopefully it will be an entertaining ride!