Random Saturday - Scarves

"And they are looking for knitters to donate a scarf", my friend from the USA wrote.
Except for a WIP (no, don't look at it or it will wake up and demand to be finished!) I hadn't knitted in years. "A scarf is not that difficult, though. Won't take that long. You won't have to think much. You can take it on the train. It's gonna be fun." That's what I thought and I volunteered to make one.
Don't get me wrong, it almost worked out that way. It was fun. It felt good to work with yarn. It was easy to take on the train.

What I had forgotten was that I wasn't used to knitting like this anymore and that my thumb had been acting up lately. I hadn't realized I was going to need breaks in between. I hadn't realized how long a scarf can be and how you start to measure it all the time because that deadline is coming nearer fast. After all the postal services have to play along, too.
Another row. Another row. Another row before the train is in the station? Seems I also had forgotten how much I hate stopping in the middle of a row just because I had to get off the train.
Will there be enough yarn (no - another trip to the store became necessary)?

On top of that was a different kind of pressure. My sister. No, she didn't pressure me, that's not it.
When I asked her if she wanted to go to the department store with me, I also told her what I wanted to get yarn for. And believe it or not - I come to that store and the first thing my sister does is pull a scarf out of her bag.

What the .... When did she have time to knit a scarf? It turns out that she had made it for herself, but finally got tired of it (oh, how I know the feeling). There were two halves in different colors to match it to two different coats, and only the fringe on one side was missing for which she also handed me the yarn. It almost seemed as if this WIP had been waiting just for this.

This is not about sibling rivalry, but how embarrassing would it have been to send her scarf and not finish my own one? The pressure was purely self-inflicted.

About thirty minutes ago I put the last thread in the fringe. Yay!
Now all I need are some crossed fingers that they will both make it in time when I send them off Monday!

I'll be honest, though, it will be nice to go back to the jewelry, too :-D

Distracted!

I shouldn't have. No, really. There's other things to do today. Household, looming (I promised), I should be off to the post office, I need to buy bread ... instead I watched "Dhobi Ghat" (still trying to decide if I liked it or not) and played with beads.

You already know my wire knit bracelets and collars incorporating Miyuki glass cubes or triangles. If I thought I'd run out of inspiration and ideas soon, I was wrong.

Let me show you what I mean.

I started out like this - straight bracelets. The fun in that is how close to each other and linear the beads sit in the wire structure which is a very different look from the lacy wire crochet cuffs in which the beads rather sit on top of the stitch than in between stitches.

Then came the collars to figure out how to best achieve a nice curve and make the collar sit on your neck perfectly.

These are the pieces you have seen in different variations, some of them are already listed, some are still waiting for to be listed.

You have also seen one round piece with a cab in the middle, the Sun Web.

Obviously the next step was to use beads in the round instead of in the middle and I played with that for a while. Different colors again. Just one bead between two stitches. Increasing the number of beads between two stitches in each row. Two rows. Three rows. Shaping it into a dome. Flatten it to a disk.

This is just one example (with the wire still sticking out as I'm not sure what I want to turn it into), I don't want to flood you with pictures. They would make fun earrings, in the bright colors in particular, but then that hole in the middle suddenly started talking to me.

In one of my infamous supply bags I found a tumbled rose quartz rock which provided a nice contrast to the dark wire and earthy looking colors.

The back is tightly crocheted to hold the quartz safely in place.

Wire knit and crochet pendant with rose quartz

Can you imagine what new possibilities I am looking at now? That way the distractions will never end, my household will head right into chaos, and as I already "promised" some people, my head will sure explode at one point because I'm sure new ideas will come along. I'm lucky to have a friend promise she'll be standing by cleaning up the mess! ;-)

Saturday night musings

What do other people do at - let me check - 11 on a Saturday night?

Hang out in a bar or disco?

Watch a movie in the cinema?

Have dinner at a fancy or not so fancy restaurant?

I bet I know what they don't do.

They don't eat veggie wieners from the package because they didn't have dinner (no pic, there were only a few left and they are gone now).

They don't drink cold chai from a Christmas mug with snowmen on it.

They don't ponder what movie to use for tomorrow's quote post (Peck or not Peck, that is the question).

They don't play lounge chair for the furry master over and over again (wait, that's probably not even that unusual ...)

 

They don't go through cooking leaflets from the 30s reading potato recipes while listening to a podcast teaching Hindi.

Aaah, I know I'm special. Aren't you glad? Cos that means I'll share an old potato recipe with you now.

0.55 pounds or 250 g boiled and grated potatoes

0.11 pounds or 50 g butter

1 table spoon flour

1 large egg

salt

grated cheese or nutmeg

Make a smooth dough from the ingredients. Form little balls which you boil in salt water and put into your vegetable soup or broth.

(Let me know how they were if you try it!)

P.S. I haven't been all weird today. I also worked on three projects of which I finished one now. And I finally listed this collar. There's hope for me, don't you think?

Wire knit collar with Miyuki glass triangles

Have a great weekend!

What have I been doing lately ...

... hm, that's a pretty good question and I wish I had a good answer.

Instead let me show you just a few pictures to give you an impression.

Any questions? ;-)

More wire knit - a sneak peek pic

I think I'll need an intervention.

I'm sorry if you are getting bored, but at least I moved from bracelets to a collar now.

AND I did my laundry and the litter boxes and some more stuff, so I don't have a bad conscience about neglecting things.

I'm so easy to please these days ... give me some glass beads, a whole lot if possible and I'll spend some happy hours.

A new year - a new technique

Actually this wouldn't be a new technique for me if I right away had followed the whole tutorial I once got from Yoola Design, but you know me, being playful and impatient I don't deal with tutorials well and this has nothing at all to do with the tutorial itself, just me *inhaling deeply* That had to be said first.

Maybe it just came at the wrong time for me, though.

Now someone suggested the subject "New techniques" for the year's first blogring of my jewelry team on the Jewelry Artisans Community (no names will be told) and I had to think of something. It's not as if there isn't anything on my list, but none of it would fall into the urgent category, so I was pretty much at a loss at first.

Then I remembered this technique, though. I have seen it described as wire crochet (it's different from the wire crochet I have done so far) or as wire knitting. The finished product looks like a knit piece to me, but you can't grip the wire well with knitting needles, a crochet hook works much better. It also reminds on working on a knitting spool, just without the spool, and you can't just make tubes, but also flat pieces.

Actually that is what I have been making, bracelets and a necklace. This year has only just begun, I have time to try different items, I hope.

Let me show you what I have so far.

This was my first attempt. You can tell by the irregularity of the stitches. I had planned to make a simple bracelet without any extras, but I couldn't stop myself, so instead I made a long strip of wire whose edges I then crocheted together so that I could fill the bracelet with small beads.

This bracelet is by no means perfect, but I learned a lot from it already and I'll keep the design in mind.

My second attempt called for a slightly thicker wire and beads. What a nice coincidence it was that I still had the blue seed beads on the dark blue wire. Yes, this was certainly getting addictive as it turned out so nicely.

Now I started wondering if it would also work with bigger beads. A while ago I had gotten myself a few tubes of large Miyuki cubes not even knowing what I wanted to use them for.

I chose the silver-lined clear cubes and teamed them up with black wire. I wasn't all that happy about the cubes along the edges, though. It was ok, but round beads would have looked better ... or maybe no beads at all?

This took me to my next piece and this time I decided to really dig in. Bright red Miyuki cubes and clear AB finish Swarovski crystals ... bling, bling, bling. Believe me, these pictures might give you a vague idea, but they can't show the sparkle. What I like a lot is also how the cubes give the cuff a nice weight and still leave it slinky.

You know how I always seek to use up my stash? Well, here we go. Hm, more cubes. I really have to go and look for some round beads next, huh?

I'm not the only one in my team trying out a new technique. Please also visit:
Jewelry Art by Dawn
Bead Sophisticate 

Oh, and by the way, I just had a new idea for cuff #3. I still have those blue cubes somewhere ... stay tuned!

Loving inanimate objects

Have I mentioned that I love my new crochet hooks? I have? Hm. But have I also mentioned why I love them? Have I mentioned that they go down ALL the way to 0.75 mm?! And have I told you I already bent the smallest one when I had to try it on fine silver wire? I knew that would happen, but as I won't ever use it for yarn, it doesn't really matter. I bent it back and it will be able to enjoy its retirement mostly from now on.
I'm still excited because now I have the right size for everything. Before I didn't even know 0.1 mm could/would make so much difference.
Others get excited about a power tool and I jump up and down for some sticks of steel. Life is funny.

A few weeks ago I had already started making more yarn baskets in different sizes and colors and with different handles. These two are from each end of the spectrum.
For size comparison I photographed them with a good old 2 Pfennig piece. That is about the size of an American 1 cent piece.

This basket is 1.5 cm or 0.6 inch high. There is space for two tiny balls of "yarn". It would make a better earring than a pendant, but in my excitement about this new experiment with a 1 mm hook I forgot to keep counting and I don't know yet if I can make a matching one.



This is the biggest basket. It's not much higher than the tiny one, but about twice as wide, so four balls of "yarn" fit into it. These are from colored copper and from bronze wire.
It's still waiting for its bail.



Here now is a picture of all the baskets together and here you can also see the difference between the "big" and the small one.


I can't wait to experiment more! ;-)

Fleamarket!

I haven't been to many fleamarkets lately, for different reasons, so I was really looking forward to the one today. Unfortunately it started to rain after a while and it is no fun trying to recognise things under a wet plastic foil. I was hoping to see some old beads or jewelry that I could take apart, but all I got jewelry-wise was a clasp for one of my WIPs from a commercial supplier.
Still it is rare for me not to find anything at all and this time it was not different.
Here is a bead set from the 50s or 60s maybe? I haven't found out anything about the company yet, but the graphics on the box seem to be that old. When I took it, my sister told me to watch out so the beads didn't fall out because the box had been secured with a rubber band. What a surprise it was when I opened it and it was still sealed! I have no idea if I will only use it as a prop or as deco, but it was so cheap I had to take it. I still remember the coasters made from beads like them from my childhood. I loved to play with them because they felt so heavy and funny to the touch and if you don't squeal on me I'll even tell you that once a thread ripped because I handled it too hard and the beads were all on the floor. Don't tell my mom ;-)



Yarn. I am not the best knitter in the world and I only knit while having my "phases" as I call it. At the moment I have a sweater I work on. It's a simple pattern and I am confident about it being finished around winter 2012. I only knit while waiting at the vet's usually, so progess is very slow.
But how could I resist this great offer? I looked at the yarn (produced in the small town that the fleamarket was held, I always liked this company's yarn and especially their crazy sales, but that story is too long for this post) and asked the guy at the booth how much it was. The way he stood a little aside of the booth should have told me he didn't want to have anything to do with it and he also told me why. "My wife has just gone, well, eh ... She'll be back in a minute." So we had a pleasant little talk until his wife was back. I had just seen the plastic bag with the yarn, but she said there was more and pulled out a tote bag with an unfinished sweater. Sadly she told me she couldn't knit any more and offered me the WIP, the yarn, two pairs of needles, the description and even the tote bag for just 7 $. The yarn is a silk/virgin wool mix, what a great deal! I felt bad for her and almost wanted to embrace her and tell her that. I think she was happy we had a nice talk and that I was so happy about my purchase. I won't be able to finish the WIP because there is no chance one wouldn't see the difference between her knitting and mine, but this will be one of my good fleamarket experiences.


Have you ever heard about a "reading clock"? Don't feel bad, nobody I know has. Unless they went to school in Göppingen, my home town, and even not all of them know it. I am trying to find out more about this "Lese-Uhr" that was produced in Göppingen as well and which was used in my elementary school to teach reading. I found a picture of an older looking example, not from plastic, but cardboard, it seems, that has been pictured on a school museum's site. I think I'll write to them and ask if they can help me out with more information.
This clock I found at the fleamarket also. Number three in my collection. The lady selling it asked me if I also needed a box with magic tricks or chemistry stuff for kids. You should have seen her face when I told her the clock was actually for myself.


Not bad for a rainy day, huh? Now I'll have to save change for the next one - with beads, I hope!!

More spool knitting

Sciatic pain, lumbago, whatever the exact word for that what I have since yesterday, it's annoying. I can't sit for very long, I can't lie for very long and it is so embarrassing to say where exactly it's hurting. Wipe that grin off your face, I won't say it out loud.
At least I got a few things done today that I could do in my now favorite half-lying position.
I started out with this blue rose pendant. To me it looks like a rose, if you see something else in it, go ahead and let me know. The first stitches are knitted, the rest is crocheted, both times with fat needles. Actually it was supposed to be something totally different, but as always I trusted my needles to take me the right way.



A few days ago my new knitting spool has arrived. Six hooks instead of four and a bigger hole which means I can work beads in. In this case I only used three of the six hooks to give it a really airy structure. I am looking forward to try different things with it and I am lovingly looking at other spools now with up to 24 hooks, although I think 12 will make the most sense for me.
I used fluorite (wow, it was the first time ever I wrote this word right at the first try!!) beads on the earrings and pendant because I love the different color shades.
By the way, these are not the pictures I will use when listing them. If you wonder about the net, it is a cat net as we have it in every room but one. Ponder helped me taking the photos by trying to steal the pendants, but I didn't let him get close enough, haha! :-D

Knitting dolly (Nancy, spool, whatever) - a new experience

Can you believe I never used a knitting dolly (Nancy, spool or whatever name you know it under, we call it a "Strickliesel") as a child? After I started crocheting with wire everybody hearing about it said "Ah, with a knitting dolly!". "No, with a crochet hook." "Huh??"
So my sister had been telling me from the start she would bring one for me to try. Finally she thought of it and here is my first attempt. Not perfect, I know, but actually it's not as easy as you might think. Wire has its own mind when it comes to bending and moving down through a little hole to finally come out the other side, I found out. I think after making four strands my right arm developed an extra muscle, but I have the feeling that it could actually get addictive, even as much as the crochet.
Now I had four "ropes" of wire, but only knew how to braid three. No problem, what have we got the internet for? I looked it up and really it's so easy. All I had to remember was "over, under, under" and voila, here is the result. Not finished yet because there are no findings on it and since it is not perfect, I'll keep it myself. The idea is stuck in my head, though. I wonder which other vital information had to leave my brain to make place for it, probably I'll know when I don't find my way to or from work anymore? ;-)

Happy Easter! :-)

Today we spent at my in-laws' house. Eating too much and afterwards chilling on the various couches and talking while the sun was shining it.
When we came home, this little fellow was waiting on our hall steps with a card "a new spring wardrobe for Cat's cell phone". I wonder if my neighbor had seen my shabby little cotton something that was good for nothing. Isn't that so cute? I truly love it, she is such a dear lady.