In Search of an Eco Friendly Xmas

Fabric remnants

One of my favorite things as a young kid was having presents wrapped in the Sunday Comics.  Color me simple, I just enjoyed getting to read the funnies a second time.  I have no idea if my parents were doing this for economic or ecological reasons, but it didn’t diminish the simple joy of the funnies.

Then, as I got a chance to take on elf duties as an older child, I very much preferred the “pre-cut” funny papers to anything I had to measure out.  Given that we were a family of 8 you can see where expediency was of interest to a teenage girl.

Much later, Hubby and I had two kids… and went through that baby/toddler phase of cheap and plentiful toys (all educational, of course).  I must have wrapped one too many presents in that phase because I started thinking it wasn’t fun anymore.

I didn’t enjoy feeling I was spending more time on the presents than the people.  And, I really didn’t enjoy planning in advance for bin space… knowing there would be a glut of paper going out in the recycling.

My goal this year was to wrap presents in a cute, EASY, and ecological way.

Starting with this book and some inexpensive remnants of fabric…

Furoshiki book

I finished of the edging with just a straight stitch and some pinking shears (pay no attention to the wobbles)…

Pinked edging for furoshiki wrap

Following the instructions in the book I came up with this little gem for Hubby…

wrapped gift

Here you can see the same size cloth on two different presents done Furoshiki style…

2 styles of furoshiki

Courtesy of some volunteer work at My New Red Shoes, I learned how to make some quick gift bags as well.  Here I’m playing with two different top edgings…

2 styles of bag edging

Then came the embellishing.  Firstly I simply re-used some ribbon from years past.  This is the no-frills way to go.

re-used ribbon

Here are the embellishments that make my heart go pitter pat.  I scored this crocheted snow flake at a mom’s night out gift exchange last year.  I was three sheets to the wind but still managed to coherently trade for it.  I also acquired a model for this picture.  Cricket is usually so terribly camera-shy, but she insisted on being in this photo for some odd reason.  Maybe it’s a sign that there is some crocheting in my near future.

crochet snowflake

It’s a lot of work and it might get spread out over a couple of years, but I’m seriously looking forward to using a lot less paper… and enjoying more time to drink hot, spiked cider while snuggled up next to Hubby.

Happy Holidays to You and Yours!!!

10 Minute Fingerless Mitts

10 Min Fingerless Mitts

Despite these beauties, my smugness is gone.

I used to get all superior when either my dad, brother or husband said, “This is an easy (computer) problem to fix.  It’ll take just a few minutes”.  I’d roll my eyes and continue about my business, knowing in my heart they’d still be scratching their heads for at least another couple of hours.

I found an easy tutorial for these super cute mitts online, bought my fleece and jumped right in thinking it would be a quick, instant gratification project.

What would likely take the average beginner just a bit of time took me a smidge longer, and here’s why:

  • Make pattern, no problem.
  • Cut fabric, no problem.
  • Get excited because everything is on a roll.
  • I may have (cough) even taken a few moments to show off here.
  • Start stitching, realize zigzag is not quite right.
  • After about 3rd time of stitching, finally realize the basic zigzag was just fine and I really shouldn’t have been scrolling through the fancy schmancy options on my machine.
  • Check the finished mitt and realize it won’t fit anyone in my family.
  • Say a few curse words.
  • Get up and walk away.
  • Double check the directions and realize should have used 1/4 inch seams instead of 1/2 inch.
  • “Think” on it for a couple of days.
  • Rip it all out in the presence of others so I stay civilized about it.
  • Finish it up, again.
  • Check the newly finished mitt and realize it fits the one person in the family who has the most narrow hands.
  • Sew up second narrow mitt so said family member can at least have a pair.  (Bless his heart, he’s worn them nearly every day for about a week now.  Love that boy!!!)
  • Screw up courage a few days later and make 3rd mitt (with some minor adjustments for size).
  • Realize I needed to only increase the fabric in most but not all areas.  Whaaaat?!  I have a custom hand?!  Sheesh!
  • Stew for another couple of days.
  • Rip back the area that now needs decreasing.  (This step is becoming disturbingly easy now.)
  • Re-stitch.
  • Check sizing.
  • Score!!!
  • Make second mitt.
  • Admire its super cuteness… 7 days later.

photo

So, these same mitts my daughter wants me to make for her in sunny yellow really should take about 10 minutes now, right?  Right?!  (Give or take a couple of days?)

Using handspun…

Project 365 6/13/12 handspun

I’m a new spinner.  As such, the idea of using my hand spun for actual knitting or weaving is a bit daunting.  I want things to look good and not scream “homemade”.  Lumpy, bumpy hand spun… uummmmm.  However, like any stash, spun yarn seems to reproduce itself in the closet and needs using up to maintain any organizational order.

I started with Romi’s Taygete Shawl back on 5/15/12

5/15/12 Project 365 Taygete #3

My hand spun is a wee bit under spun… as in not enough twist in the ply.  This means my Taygete shawl could end up being a little fragile in the long run.  But, it means that I also know more what under spun yarn looks like… just by knitting with it with it.  And, if it starts falling apart I know that my washing machine felts things VERY well.  It can then become fabric that I cut and turn into something else entirely.

Project 365 6/13/12 Taygete #3

The hand spun has some subtle striping both in the body and in the lace.  It draws you in to find all of the delicate color combinations.  What amazed me a bit was realizing that your eye tricks you into smoothing out the yarn visually.  If you were to knit with this yarn, you would see and feel that there is quite a bit of variation from one inch to the next… but you don’t see it when you look at the shawl as a whole.  It’s kind of like pointillism in that regard.  Very cool.

In the beginning I was nervous using the home spun.  There were a lot of hours put into just the spinning and I had no clue if the yardage was sufficient.  But, how beautiful is it stuck in a box somewhere?  And really, why not play with your fiber?  I was very surprised and pleased with the results.  The yarn worked structurally and visually.

If you spin, what did you make with your some of your first hand spun?  Was there anything about the process that surprised you?

Art, Craft, Music, Volunteering and A Whole Lot Of Fun

Reblogged from Fiberdazed:

Click to visit the original post
  • Click to visit the original post
  • Click to visit the original post
  • Click to visit the original post

What does art, craft, music, volunteering and fun have to do with fiber? Well, directly, not much. But because it has a whole lot to do with me, and what's going on in my life right now, it has everything to do with Ms. Fiberdazed.

June 16th & 17th is coming up quick and that is when our annual La Honda Fair and Music Festival happens.

Read more… 463 more words

Had to share this from Fiberdazed! Heartily recommend this to other Bay Area locals. We've been going since my almost teen was a baby (where we bought him his first tie dye onesie)!

An enjoyable interlude with marled yarn…

Miss E playing secretly with my phone camera. Chuckle…

I had an hour block of time today.  For the last two weeks, time has been a bit of a rarity, so I was tickled to bits.

I planned to finish off some fiber I had spun in Judith’s MacKenzie’s amazing colored sock yarn class at CNCH 2012.  I started with 2 small single plies of multicolored fiber that Judith taught us how to prepare in several different ways.

Using a combination of the Andean plying technique + my spinning wheel, I twisted each ply onto itself to create 2 short double ply yarns.  (The hot pink was an outlier on the end of one bobbin, so I snipped it off.  I’m citing artistic license on that one.)

I then took these two double ply yarns and twisted them together yet again to create a 4 ply yarn.

The idea is that you can use some pretty wild colors.  But, blended so thoroughly like this, you can end up with a yarn that’s tame enough for a man’s sock.  (I still think hubby is thanking me for ripping out the hot pink.)

What surprised me is that with all this plying and spinning, I halfway expected a yarn that was pretty stiff.  Not so (assuming I’ve done it correctly).  I’ve found it to be a nice cushy yarn that I would be thrilled to have gracing my delicate size 11′s.  What a lovely way to spend a blustery afternoon.  Happy sigh.

Emergency knitting for puppy…

My new to me little darling Cricket spent most of the day yesterday at the vet’s office.  It would seem that her, ah, new to the doggy scene owner mistakenly gave her unrestricted access to a rawhide chew.  The result was a gluey rawhide mass in her tummy and a $500+ vet bill.

To deal with my anxiety (and guilt) while waiting for the vet’s call I opted for a “drop everything emergency knit”.  My poor little darling needed a sweater and I hadn’t knit one yet.  This was the time!  I selected a straightforward little number by Brian Herzog for speed and efficiency.

She practically jumped into the sweater, so it’s terribly funny to me that she’s looking so underwhelmed in these photos.  Maybe it’s because her bit of knitted love is not in purple.  Guess that means I’ll have to knit another!

Taking art classes…

Peggy Osterkamp gave a speech at the CNCH 2012 gathering this past weekend, and one of the quotes she posted during the talk was:

“Fortune favors the prepared mind.”
by Louis Pasteur

It’s been bouncing around in my head like mad, even though I’m fairly certain this is not the first time I’ve heard it.  Maybe it’s just the first time I listened.
One way of looking at this in today’s society is perhaps by thinking of commercial success that might happen your way if you are totally on top of your craft.  Certainly, taking classes in your artistic focus to improve your skills will make you more marketable long-term.
But what if by taking those art classes you open yourself up to new artistic expressions.  Having loads of skills in your artistic toolbox would let you try more things, push boundaries, take more risks… or simply say “hmmm, maybe this will work” more often.

Peggy said she didn’t consider herself a risk taker.  I chuckled to myself when I heard this because my very first thought after viewing her work was “Wow!  Now here’s an artist comfortable with risk.”
So what if what if “risk” to an outsider was simply a very prepared mind.  Risk doesn’t sound quite so intimidating then.  It sounds as easy as taking art classes and playing with fiber.