Of all things, a dog sweater?

This is the Biscuits and Bones pattern on Ravelry.  First started the large one in the round for Noel, but got confused by the pattern.  Ripped it out and started over flat as the directions have you do, and with the xs size to get the hang of the pattern.  I am more confident about making the larger one, now and am really enjoying the textures and cables. 

Here's a photo of a multicolored rug  that was made awhile back, from t-shirts ( leftover strips) and is quite short.

This one is made from sweatshirts.  When I started it, was also putting red in there, but it seemed too patriotic for a rug, as the light grey looks more white than grey.  The one below is the denim/camoflaug rug I talked about in an earlier post  that was remade from another rug that was hemmed and came apart after washing.

Some placemats

Just finished these place mats yesterday.  It has been an eventful project.  First I tried to make 4 place mats side by side, out of t-shirts to use up the last of the warp.  The left side got tangled and snarled and I didn't have the patience to mess with it. 

So it was taken off and the loom rewarped for the last two place mats.   That went well, for once and then I realized that I didn't have enough material to finish them!   So a trip to Good Will and the other thrift shops with one of our daughters commenced. 

Well, we couldn't just buy the t-shirts to finish up, could we?  We found books, fashion boots, a jacket, and many clothes for my little grandson.  In Good Will it was an adventure, scouring the racks  holding the fabric strips to compare.  We did match the colors, amazingly enough.  And here are the end results.  Hope the next adventure is easier and less costly.

A new sweater project and another rug

This is a sweater for my grandson, size 4, made from Plymouth Encore Colorspun and there isn't a name for the color, I just think of it as Camoflauge.  It's a blend of 75 % acrylic,25% wool and machine washable.  Matthew picked the style of sweater, he wanted a pullover, and it had to be green.

The pattern is from this book.

Here's my latest rug, finished tying the fringe this morning.  Not my colors, but  someone will like it.   Started another one tonight which is a remake.  A few years ago I made a hemmed rug with colored warp and denim/camoflauge canvas fabrics.   Well, it didn't hold up in the washer, and the hem came apart.  It seemed easier to tear it apart and redo the rug. So today was the day to get going on it.http://karensfiberarts.blogspot.com/2007/12/yooper-rug.html  is the original rug, if case you want to see it.

Some pictures of a cat

This rug was finished this morning. 

 It measures 24"wide by 22"long.

 Made from 4 t-shirts, a nice scatter rug size, or just right for in front of the door.

With no tension or selvedge problems.   It was made by laying the strips in the shed and no sewing.  Was in a hurry to get weaving, and didn't want to spend  the time sitting at the sewing machine.   Yes, that's a paw, she had to get the last word in.

Wool, wool, everywhere

 This is the raspberry fleece just back from the fiber mill, Stonehedge. It was mixed with a darker purple and some of the wool ended up a pale rose color, all blended together at the mill.   It will probably turn out a heathery color,and there is a pound and a quarter,so that should be enough to make several small projects.

This is the Cypress, and it is much darker than it looks here.  It is under a pound, probably 1/2 to 3/4 of a pound, but plenty there to keep me busy for awhile. 

This is a columbia/shetland cross white fleece from a sheep named Marshmallow, traded from a friend for some Spin-Off magazines.  The dye was Grape Juice, and you can see the reds in there.   The dye didn't exhaust so they threw some more wool in the pot, and ended up with a deeper purple with more blue in it.  It still hadn't exhausted after that, so they threw in more wool and ended up with an ice blue.    

This is actually the first one I dyed that day, it is Seabreeze and the same columbia/shetland cross fleece.   It exhausted, and I used the recommended amount 3/4 T.

 

There was some purple on the bottom of the  fleece when I dumped it out of the dye pot, residue that wouldn't come off the pan from the last time they dyed.   Don't know if you can see it, but I probably won't leave it in there to send to the fiber mill,there isn't enough of it to disperse throughout the whole thing.   Will get out the hand carders and see what it looks like.   All in all, it was a wonderful day with friends I haven't seen in awhile, knitting, spinning, lots of interesting conversations about fiber and the sharing of ideas and common interests has renewed my spirit.  Thank you Joyce and Kim, for more than you will ever know.

Getting some spinning done, anyways

Now that the cool weather is here, it is time to start working with wool again.   We had a very nice, warm summer, but fall is here, along with some sleet and lots of rain.   This is a Finn/Rambouillet cross roving that I just finished.   I plan to make these mittens from it, if the gauge works up right. http://dailyskein.wordpress.com/2008/11/25/cruiser/

This is a roving a friend and I worked on last summer, then had it sent out to Ziellingers to be carded. The colors are raspberry, orange, purple and a dark blue.   

Here it is on the bobbin,and the plan is to ply it with a denim blue, because when it's plied with the same yarn it is too busy. With the blue, the colors stand out better.  There is quite a bit of blue roving left over from the blue sweater coat that is almost finished,you can see it in the older posts.  It is too small, so for now it's  waiting in the knitting bag until I can figure out what to do about it.  

2012 Fair Entries

This one just needs tying, it got a 1st place anyway.  Has train fabric on the back

Kitchen towels in a vintage pattern.  Bought this as a kit on ebay.

Hand spun yarn, think it's Romney.  Only three entries this year, will have to get busy for the next one.