Category Archives: Cats

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.

Miscalculated risk = epic fail…

Remember that lovely alpaca blanket that was HUGE?  I figured I would sleep on whether to try to felt it up a bit…  Well, I decided to go ahead with the light felting to help improve the structural integrity.  (It really did need it.  I have fellow fiber witnesses even.)

Sadly, I didn’t give hubbie a heads up.  You see, it’s become his blankie in the sense that he’s always the first to grab it for tv time in the eves… much like I always run and leap into the bed so he has to turn the light out at night.

So here is what I was thinking:

The blanket was ever so huge… twin bed size.  It couldn’t get that small, surely.

I had a front loading machine that is not supposed to felt things nearly as well as a top loader.

There are small pipes going into the house, so getting warm or hot water is tricky.  If I put it on hot, I would be lucky to get really warm.

I put it in by itself, so nothing to rub against it and agitate it unduly.

So far so good, right?  Did I even think of going slower… run it through gentle?  run it on warm?  No.  I was even so certain in my mental calculations that I failed to at least check on it mid-felt.  I just popped it in there and went about my merry way weeding the front yard.  When it came time to pull it out for the next load I was shocked (aka said a few bad words).

I will admit, it is even more beautiful now.  Sadly, it is also this odd size… too small for a true blanket, too heavy for a lap blanket, and too big for a tote or a rug.  I’m just not sure what to do.  Momo the cat greeted it like a long-lost friend after its harrowing trip through the wash.  Maybe I have to face the music and deem it a project I made for the cats.

Hubbie, of course, is heart-broken.  I just destroyed his favorite blankie.  Me, I’m still numb and in shock.

The “Bomb”

I finally finished that Tunisian crocheted blanket I was feverishly working on before our family trip.  You can see a bit of the fabric edging here:

4/10/12 Project 365 fabric strip edging

This thing is:

Huge… it could work on a twin bed.  I was a little shocked.  That’s really fast work for something that size.

Colorful… every time I look at it I find a new area I like.

A little wobbly… I may wash it a little on the warm side to mildly felt/firm it up.  It has alpaca running all through it, so it should work.  However, not all of the alpaca is the same or in the same amounts, so I could end up with a bit of a zig zag mess.  (I’ll sleep on it.)

Incredibly warm… I predict there will be arm wrestling matches for the privilege of using it during tv time.

Kitty approved… because Momo jumped on it as soon as I finished it and proceeded to make biscuits.  I had to shoo him off at photo time because he was getting a little over enthusiastic with the claws.

The “Bomb”… because it’s just that impressive.

4/10/12 Project 365 The Bomb

Following inspirations.

I find myself periodically not having time for art… but I can almost always find time for fiber related projects.  The only time I don’t seem to find time for fiber is when I’ve done a drawing or painting for the day… and that choosing makes me cranky.

I had assumed that while I always seem to think of art but couldn’t act on my thoughts, that it was “missing” from my life.  Maybe that assumption is incorrect.  Maybe I just need to follow what I’m inspired by each day and see where that takes me through the course of the year.  Maybe this is just part of the ebb and flow that is now the mantra of my days.

Yesterday I started the Quercus Cardigan by Julie Turjoman.  I’m using the Miss Babs Yowza-Whatta Skein in the Tulipa Monochrome colorway that I  bought last year at Stitches West.  The picture from my iPad does not show how truly gorgeous this yarn is.  The color affects me like catnip does a cat.  Mmmmm.

Project 365 2/6/2012

Hubbie was admiring the cable work and angling for a cabled sweater of his own.  An excuse/inspiration to buy more Yowza-Whatta Skein at this year’s Stitches?  Absolutely!  I’ll take that and run with it!

I caved.

There’s a new member in our family and her name is Sugar Bear.  She’s a long-haired hamster who is totally cute and has a glint in her eye suggesting she’s already mapped out all possible escape routes.  My daughter has been lobbying strenuously for the last two years for a dog.  She briefly considered a hamster earlier; but then I reminded her of our three high maintenance cats, all of which are proven mousers.  Just a couple of weeks ago she started talking about wanting a chinchilla.  I knew I was in for several months to a year of talking chinchilla at every possible moment if I didn’t do something quickly.  So I weighed the pros and cons of the aforementioned possible pets and ran to the nearest pet store for a hamster.

After all that family excitement…

…I decided to put an alizarin crimson wash on Big Bertha while I wait impatiently for the matte medium.  (Real story:  I ran out of time today and a wash is super easy to do.)  I might put a second wash over just parts of it tomorrow to get darker colors and more depth.  I’m also toying with the idea of some kind of sparkly addition.  I have a thing for sparkles.  Who knows, by the time I finish with my tinkering, I might not need the matte medium!

Project 365 1/26/2012

There were some interesting textures that popped out due to take up of the wash on layered tissue areas.  On the other hand, the wash pooled on the gold and silver, metallic, tissue papers.  After putting the wash over the whole canvas, I went back and “erased” it off the metallic papers with some paper towels.  It made those shiny areas pop forward more and was a nice effect.  I then took the paper towels and dabbed them over the plain canvas areas so it became less uniform.  My favorite effect though was in the areas where the cream tissue paper was put on the canvas with gesso.  Areas that had been crumpled and not glued down took on the alizarin crimson, those with the gesso not so much.  Here’s the closeup so you can see.

Project 365 1/26/2012

I’ll probably have to do a whole painting starting just with that.  Very cool.

(Okay, so maybe I didn’t really cave.  Maybe I just made a little girl very happy.  We little girls all need some happiness.)

Starting down the rabbit hole…

Project 365 1/24/2012 Broad View

I started off  last night by spending way too much time on Pinterest researching buttons, tissue paper and gesso methodologies.  I then started back with the research this afternoon, and realized I was procrastinating due to fear of starting.  The rest of the hour kind of went like this:

Blew raspberry at self and turned away from the computer.

Put on old shirt because of my full body contact sport tendencies.  Ran back to put up hair for the same reason.  I was getting excited at this point.

Put on some dancin’ tunes.

Realized thin gesso might run due to gravity and quickly rearranged set up.

Briefly noted the newly made bomb look and kept going.  Why stop?

Took call from hubbie while mixing gesso with water.

Dripped gesso on tissue paper.

Said bad word and got off phone with hubbie.

Realized paper towels or rags might be a REALLY good idea.

Consoled self with thought that I haven’t done any painting in a long time.  It’s ok to forget a few things the first time back.

Ripped and crumpled up tissue paper.  Liked this step a little too much.

Danced and pasted tissue paper.

Stared dumbfounded as “simple” kitty brother to Momo (aka Bobo) pranced across canvas.  How he missed the wet spots is beyond me.  However, I could be deluding myself as I haven’t found the white footprints yet.  He was so proud of himself, too.  (Shaking head.)

Realized gesso was going to dry white, maybe it was glue and water I was supposed to use?!!  Maybe I should have researched this a bit more.

Made it look like gesso was supposed to be there.  Crisis averted.

Realized gloves might be a REALLY good idea for a mom who needs to pick up her kids after one quick hour.  Whoops!  Is that gesso in my hair?!!

Project 365 1/24/2012 Close Up View

So now…

I’ve realized it’s not looking anything like I expected it to.  I’m really not sure where this collage is going.

I think I’ll take the strategic “out” for the day and let it dry completely.

Some possibilities for tomorrow include putting a glaze on.  It will take up differently on the tissue, canvas and gesso spots so it could be fun.  I also might put an acrylic gel over some parts.  It lets parts show through to the final layer.

At a minimum, this will be a very nice random background to interact with as I go further down the rabbit hole of this collage.