My latest video is now available to view, I hope you enjoy it!
Knitted kitty
Isn’t it funny how you can put a project aside for a while and it becomes difficult to pick it up again? I started this kitty last year, got the head and body finished and then just didn’t feel like picking it up again.
Over Christmas the weather was very warm and I was very tired. The whole family was tired. So we spent quite a bit of time watching movies and documentaries together and keeping things quiet. I get restless hands if I just sit and watch something, so it was the perfect time to pick up a bit of knitting.
It didn’t take me long to power through the rest of the pieces, and when she was finished I felt she needed a dress, so got straight onto the sewing machine, no pattern, no fussing around (no excuses!) and whipped up the dress in no time.
She’s pretty cute without the dress too š
She was promptly gifted to my 8 year old because she is the only one who doesn’t have a knitted toy from me yet. They now share the same bed and kitty is never far away, yes, she loves her!
Now for the pattern details – Girl Cat by Little Cotton Rabbits. If you are not too confident with knitting, these patterns are really great, step by step, lots of photos, very well written. Most of the patterns come with instructions for knitted clothes and the designer has plenty of other gorgeous little animals to choose from.
So, what’s happening next year?
I don’t know, I really don’t. Of course I have hopes, dreams, aims, goals, but I have learned (and it’s taken a really long time) that life is easier when you let God do the planning and you do the following.
At the moment, I would love to further my business. I’d like to wake up, have a shower, some breakfast, maybe walk the dog and then sit down to my loom and weave. And just keep weaving until I wanted to do something else – probably some dyeing. I’ve tried to work more on being a “real” artist for years and failed over and over. But I don’t feel too sad about it anymore. Because I’ve come to a realisation.
Being a real artist is not my real job. Being a wife is. Being a mother is. Being a servant of God is. These are the things that God is calling me to first. Everything else has to wait, and this fact is good and right. He gives me time here and there to work on the things I love, but only after my other duties for the day are fulfilled.
Maybe one day I will get to work full time on creative stuff. Or maybe God has other plans for me – whatever the case all He asks is for me to listen and obey, and with His grace, this is what I intend to do.
Merry Christmas!
I hope you all have a very happy and holy Christmas, may God bless you all!
That awesome feeling!
Of finishing a project and finding that you love it! Remember this post? My, how things can change.
So, the blanket was woven on 4 shafts with my hand dyed Australian 4ply cotton. I used a twill variation for the pattern.
It’s actually quite thick and heavy, so definitely better suited to cooler times than we are experiencing at the moment! (37 degrees today).
My little sweetheart was good enough to model it for me, even in the heat.
This blanket will be in my Etsy shop in the near future, so look out for that if you like what you see š
Cutting handwoven cloth, one method
*This post contains affiliate links
Cutting a length of cloth of the loom is so exciting! But then what? If you’re not leaving a fringe you have to finish the fabric somehow, and if you’re cutting into it you may be afraid of unravelling. This is a great, easy method to use for either finishing to hem or if you need to cut into the fabric.
Firstly, once off the loom, the fabric needs to be wet finished and dried before you consider cutting.
When you’ve determined your cutting line (whether it’s at the end of the fabric or somewhere else) cut a length of light, fusible interfacing the length of the cut and about 2 inches in width. It must be the fusible type or this won’t work. Iron it so that your cutting line is roughly in the middle (so you have half of the interfacing on either side of the cut line). For me, the cut line was where the end of the woven fabric met the beginning of the fringe. Cover with a pressing cloth and iron until fused.
The underside of the fabric now looks like this, nothing is really visible from the front side.
Using your cutting line as a guide, serge right across. Can you see where the fringe begins and woven cloth ends? That was my guideline for serging. If you don’t have a serger, a zigzag stitch on the sewing machine will suffice, but the serger definitely does a superior job. Janome is a reliable brand if you are in the market for a serger.
Now you have a neat serged edge. The threads are completely secure and haven’t moved in the serging process due to the interfacing fixed in place. From this point you can go on to use your fabric according to your plans or begin to hem.
To finish the fabric with a hem, I fold over the serged edge once and iron down flat.
Then a second fold to enclose the serged edge and interfacing, press with the iron once again and pin in place if you wish.
Sewing the hem can be done by machine or hand. I used my machine with a straight stitch, close to the folded edge at the back. My machine is a very simple and straightforward Janome, although mine is an older model you can see something similar here.
Voila! Easy peasy and all secure, no loose or displaced threads and the interfacing gives extra support when hemming!
I have a Youtube video covering this topic for your further research.
I have a Youtube video covering this topic for your further research.
Great Expectations
I planned to weave a baby blanket. I spent weeks planning this project, first visually in my head, then on paper with measurements and particulars, then in the dyeing. I researched weave structures and matched colours, choosing the contrasting colours I thought would best show off the somewhat complex pattern. I spent a lot of time planning this blanket.
Then came the warping, the threading, the sleying, the tying on. Hours and hours of work. Finally, I got to the exciting part – the weaving! I began weaving with great anticipation, concentrating on the sequence to ensure no errors. After a few inches, I got up and stood back from the work, as I always do, to view the emerging pattern with pleasure.
And I hated it.
It’s busy, it’s thick and textured, it looks messy and the pattern is barely discernible because of all the colours. To say I was disappointed would be a grave understatement. I felt like cutting the warp off the loom and shoving it in the bin. Instead, I went to bed.
Contemplation set in. I remembered a talk I had heard some time ago by a holy priest. He talked about expectations and how we get upset when things don’t turn out “just so”. He talked about expecting ABC and getting XYZ. He illustrated how readily we lose our tempers, get offended or grow angry at the smallest things. I chuckled when I heard this part of his talk – it was so true that people are selfish and expect the very best all the time. People. Me.
You know what? I’m going to soldier on with this project that I hate. I’ve already learned a heap of new skills and tricks with warping, threading and colouring. Now I get to practice weaving a pattern I haven’t woven before and is actually the most complex one to date for me. I get to practice weaving the full width of the loom, I haven’t done that before either.
When I begin each weaving project, I pray for God’s blessing on my work. I pray also for the future recipient of the project. Prayers are never wasted, even when it seems we don’t always get what we asked for.
It may be that you ask for ABC but instead God blesses you with XYZ.
I Heart Faces “Pet” photo challenge
I wasn’t planning to enter the pet photo challenge on I Heart Faces. Our lovely ginger cat passed away this week after a brief illness and I haven’t really been in the mood for photos. But today THIS happened, my husband brought home this gorgeous little guy. I had no choice, I had to capture that cuteness!
And then, I couldn’t leave this little guy out! He’s rather taken with his new playmate.
One project finished, onto the next!
The rose path scarf is finished!
It felt so good to cut my first project on my new loom off and finish it.
It’s the first time I’ve woven with Bambu 7 as well, it is truly beautiful – so soft and a gorgeous sheen.
The reverse side.
The front.
And now I’m working on some more luxury face cloths for my Etsy shop. They were so popular last time, I’ve been wanting to restock ever since.
I must say, it was really nice to direct warp the rigid heddle loom after going through the debacle of warping the 8 shaft loom for the scarf. So many errors! But, as I’ve heard many people say, you tend to learn more from mistakes than successes.
New loom progress
Did I tell you about my new loom? I’ve been saving for this one for a while! It’s an 8 shaft Ashford table loom, and it’s a beauty. And a real learning curve. I’ve had it for a couple of weeks, but only yesterday did I start weaving on it.
The warping and threading process is very different to the simple old rigid heddle, so I’ve had to learn warping on a board, reading pattern drafts, threading texolv heddles and following lift plans.
Lots of reading, watching videos and asking questions on Facebook groups. But it’s all starting to come together and…
The results are stunning. This is a rose path pattern on only 4 shafts (soon I might be brave enough to use all 8 shafts, but oh! the threading time is so long!) I’m starting out with a scarf using Bambu 7, which is just gorgeously soft and shiny.
I’m sure I’ll have my next project planned before this is finished, but for now I will just enjoy having it warped, threaded and the weaving!