Playing Catch-up

March 20, 2016mulchandmorecrafts 10 Comments

Yes, this week was as busy as the last one, so I’m going to attempt to catch you up on things I’ve been doing.

Finished projects; knitting

The green hat is finished and ready to felt!

ready to felt!

The white mohair cowl is also finished, doesn’t seem to need blocking, is fuzzy and light but very comfortable and warm. Have been debating adding some dye to it, in hopes that the pattern would show up better. What do you think? I’m leaning toward leaving it white, to go with anything?

You can still see my table through two layers! That’s airy.

I also discovered a new shawl pattern, Maluka. Decided to try it, since sorting through some of my stash I had found some lovely sock yarn that I know I will never turn into socks. And one skein should be enough, so another choice to make! Of course I chose the one that had red in it. Wound into a ball it looked even prettier. On the third start on the pattern, it’s beginning to take shape. Not the fault of the pattern, but the user! This is my first time knitting from a chart for anything but color changes, so 12-14 rows in each time I realized my mistake and had to frog! At least it was a different mistake each time 🙂

which to pick?

wish I had dyed this!

colorful ball

Need 33 repeats of those points!

Yesterday was a family day, involving a lot of driving, time outside (in 30 degree weather) to watch a parade, some shopping, some visiting, another long drive home with some more shopping on the way (my husband found the perfect easel for his summer sketching and our son added to his collection of charms for wire wrapping) Last night I was too tired to even partake of Jacqueline’s wonderful Brunch Party, but that is still going on today so be sure to pop by and meet some interesting bloggers and enjoy her great food and music!

Last night my eyes were too tired, from driving with the bright sun in my eyes, to read blogs or even knit so I pulled out some roving that I’d obtained from a friend last summer and started spinning. Once started it went so quickly that I finished the first ball of roving and decided to ply it with some of the mohair that I’d used for the cowl. I wound that skein off this morning (130yds) and should soon have another the same size. The mohair added a nice bloom and softness to the colors. Now to decide, is it to keep, to sell, or to knit into something to sell ?

red, white, and blue roving

one ball spun

Thinking I was tired enough to spin a lumpy type art yarn, training kicked in and it is an almost balanced knitting worsted size 🙂 I guess I have to work harder on making lumpy yarn!

Plied yarn on nitty-noddy.

130yds of soft.

I’ve been making magnet prints of some of husband’s canvases and still have the regular sized prints to make (in my spare time)

Stay productive everyone and if you have a moment leave a comment about what has been keeping you busy.

A Busy Week!

March 11, 2016March 11, 2016mulchandmorecrafts 11 Comments

A week ago tonight we were setting up for our first craft show of 2016! It was a garden seminar and the vendors were mainly busy during the student’s breaks. It was a well organized show, but it seemed strange not to have the full assortment that we usually set up. We were limited to needle felting, soy candles, and wood burning, to avoid having content similar to that of other vendors. Please excuse the darkness of the pictures. It wasn’t quite that dark in reality.

key chains and art doll

needle felting

art dolls and ornaments in silhouette.

felted bracelets and art doll in progress

earrings

soy candles

more wood burning

wood burning

Saturday, after the show, I finished the magenta hat from last week’s start. It’s now waiting for another one to be finished so both can be felted.

knitting finished, felting next.

Last week a vendor friend and I were lucky enough to make it to an estate sale of a talented fiber artist who passed away last year. With lots of equipment, beautiful finished product, roving, yarns and even a loom, there was lots to look at and still plenty left. The sale will be continuing on Sat’s and by appointment for a while yet. Of course my vehicle was partially loaded for the show, but we squeezed in her purchases and some of mine. HE HAD GRID WALL! So I had to buy it and make arrangements to pick it up this week. With the pegs and hat hooks I can hardly wait to see the displays we will be able to do this year! Took my husband and son for the man power to load it all on the second (hour plus) trip, but it was worth it. My husband has been painting more canvases so he will now have a wall to display them on, instead of just easels. And we each found a few more goodies as well. And I picked up the sewing machine and another display for my friend (she forgot to get the machine when we were there before) Big cones of yarn for weaving followed me home. One is mohair so I started a knitted cowl, just to see how it would work up, it’s so soft! Can’t wait to do some weaving next!

fluffy mohair, almost invisible, but warm.

The rest of the week has been busy with family stuff, getting a leak fixed by my gas tank, printing some prints of finished paintings, and of course more knitting 🙂

start of next hat

Have a great week-end everyone. And please let me know what your next projects are? Are you like me and have more than one going at a time?

Start of Knitted Hat

March 2, 2016mulchandmorecrafts 7 Comments

I’ve gotten a start on knitting the yarn that I showed you in the last post. The garter stitch brim is finished.

The brim is finished.

And I’ve started to add the fuzzy for the band.

Brim with beginning of band.

Now is the hard part…I want to wait to have it to work on between customers at the Sat. craft show. (The show is at a seminar so most of our shoppers will be in waves during their breaks.) The way the colors in the yarn are coming together and as soft as the fuzzy yarn is I just want to keep knitting. Guess it’s time to did out a different project!

Next on my Needles

February 28, 2016mulchandmorecrafts 9 Comments

Next on my needles, as I use my stash , two skeins at a time, plus some fuzzy commercial yarn 🙂

Bright hand spun, hand dyed, ready to cast on.

KAL Finished

February 25, 2016mulchandmorecrafts 3 Comments

The cowl that I started yesterday for Bonnyknits and Jenna’s KAL is finished except for blocking. The pattern of Marshmallow Fluff by Sarah Kraly was easy to follow although I did use US#17 needles instead of the #19’s that the pattern called for. When I do it again the only change I would make would be to bind off after a wrong side row instead of after a right side row. I think that that way the bind off would be as invisible on the right side as it is on the wrong side.

finished #Marshmallow cowl

Bind off line in the center

The pointer marks the bind off, should have knit one more row first.

almost invisible bind off on wrong side of cowl.

Wrong side of cowl, bind off in center, blends in well.

Cowl is fluffy and warm, thanks Bonny and Jenna.

KAL means Knit-A-Long

February 24, 2016mulchandmorecrafts 9 Comments

Yesterday I was reading bonnyknits blog about a knit along she and another blogger planned. She is such a prolific knitter that I thought it might be fun…I’ve knit a lot but never a knit a long 🙂

Best thing was looking at the free pattern, it uses bulky yarn, which I happen to have an ample supply of, and have been looking for patterns to recommend for use with my hand spun. So glad to find another quick to knit project in a pattern that I can recommend to yarn buyers and spinners.

The pattern, Marshmallow Fluff is well written by Sarah Kraly and although straightforward I did have to learn to do a provisional cast-on! Thanks to Bonny for explaining it to me.

The yarn I choose is a light denim colored superwash merino, a bulky hand spun from my stash. I do have other skeins of superwash here. Having trouble with my lighting, the actual color is about halfway between the two pictures below.

light denim superwash merino

superwash merino

And this is my progress so far, almost half way done.

start of cowl pattern

Feel free to join in the fun at Bonnyknitsblog !

Show Preparation

February 22, 2016mulchandmorecrafts 11 Comments

Yes, craft show season is approaching, even in the snowy Midwest! I wasn’t planning on doing our first show of the year until April, but received an email and signed up for a small local one that is completely new to me and now less than two weeks away! So I’ve been busy this week getting some things in order.

First was finishing new labels and boxes for my soy candles. I make over 100 different scents, and keeping them in order to display and restock at a show is a must. After finishing that I’ve been completing my spreadsheet for the year, a hand-written way to keep track of what I have, what I make, and of course, what I sell.

4 scents to a box=many boxes to haul.

12 scents to a box, makes for quicker set-up at a show.

We also pulled some of the tables and display racks from the trailer. Since it is still resting in a snow bank, it took a few trips and a sled! Also brought my tote of wood-burned plaques into the house, replaced worn tags, and repacked them ready to go.

This show only has about 20 vendors, so the organizer is limiting each craft to have only one vendor in a category. When I talked to her, she already had a hand spun wool and hat person, so my items are limited to wood burning and soy candles, along with my son’s needle felting. It should be interesting to see how this works, but I will miss having my wheel to demonstrate with.

A few batches of candles to make, more business cards to print, and I think we are ready! Now hoping that enough snow is gone by April to get the trailer out for the next show (that one we get to take our full variety to and that won’t fit in just our vehicle 🙂

This Week’s Spinning

February 20, 2016mulchandmorecrafts 8 Comments

This week on Monday at spinning guild I started working on 8oz of fiber that I had dyed last month. I spun more that night and Tuesday, by Wednesday I had two spools of 4oz each and plied them together. (Took me longer to get the pictures on my computer and edited 🙂

Dyed merino top

dyed top, spread cross-wise and on bottom as dyed.

For the top I had chosen colors that reminded me of an early fall forest, the blue-green of spruce trees, a touch of orange for early turning leaves, and of course the brown of twigs and trunks.

see the color rearrange as spun

When I started spinning it, the wool transformed into more subtle, softer shades of these colors, transforming my mid-day forest into one viewed in early morning or late dusk.

single on spool compared to un-spun top

At this point I could have chosen to ply it with a dark single to make the colors pop a little again, but the softness of the shading was asking to be kept together. I now have two skeins, one of 200yds and one of 84yds. Time to set the twist, label them and add them to my craft show inventory.

finished skeins of yarn

And of course, I must decide what will be next on my wheel. Have a happy fiber-filled week.

And please leave a comment to let me know what your favorite colors of yarn are?

Have You Ever Made a Scrubby?

February 15, 2016February 15, 2016mulchandmorecrafts Leave a comment

Have you ever made a scrubby? Or used a scrubby? Or are you wondering what I’m even talking about?

Some of the many colors of finished scrubbies

A Scrubby is one of those handy crocheted nylon net things that have a ton of uses. Yes the most well known is for washing dishes (without scratching) or scrubbing a sink or tub. But men (and ladies), did you know that they are also great for removing dried bugs from headlights or that a new dry one can remove dust from window screens? Dry, they are also handy for taking the silk off corn-on-the-cob, or wet for scrubbing other vegetables. They have many other uses, but you are beginning to see how useful they can be and why so many people make them.

I have also discovered that not everyone who crochets can make them (I tried to teach my daughter once)…either the net breaks (from too much tension) or it is too rough on the crocheter’s hands. My mom made single-sided ones when I was growing up, and I occasionally made a few, then a craft show vendor friend explained to me how to make the two-sided ones and I was hooked(pun intended)!

Several yards of nylon net

Measure and cut into strips

Starting to crochet

Next time you are at a craft show, look at scrubbies, there are many different methods of making them, and everyone has their favorite style. I make three different kinds myself, the standard two-sided ones, some with cotton (think crocheted dish cloth) on one side and scrubby net on the other, and some cotton and nylon combined on a stick (great for reaching into a glass for that stuck-on dried milk 🙂 [I still remember the stitches I had the day a glass broke with my hand inside when using a dishcloth ].

And if you can’t find them, contact me, the regular ones are $2.00 each and not very heavy to ship. (The other styles are $3.00 each) Or contact me if you want help learning to make your own 🙂

A Painting in Progress

February 6, 2016February 7, 2016mulchandmorecrafts 2 Comments

Right now my husband is working on a painting on canvas using a mixture of mediums.

(Warning to all artists, I’m not one, so please excuse me if I get some of the terminology wrong) He is starting with inspiration from a photo of the Roger Blough , a ship on the Great Lakes. I’ve taken a few pictures as things develop, so enjoy….it’s still a work in progress.