Weaving togetherness
I love how ideas can start as little precious sparks and, given the right conditions, in a short time can become a blaze. A little discussion between me, Esther, and Donni, in which we decided to make a nice collaboration and weave each others yarns (yes – way cool right?!) turned into a whole new group on Facebook especially for Majacraft Dynamic Loom owners (or those who have it high on their wishlist!). I mean, why should we be individually hogging all the fun! Shared is always better So what do we have? Its our own group space...
read moreSharing the glow
The good days! You know the ones, the moment you wake up you can already feel the excitement simmering away somewhere deep in your chest. I dont know what it is or where it comes from, its just known to me as a good day feeling, especially when it hits me even before first coffee. I can contrast it with slightly less good days of course. Like. yesterday, it started out with some great moments, but punctuated with a really good slice out of my finger because I havent yet learned not to play with scissors, and a kinda flat feeling all afternoon...
read moreSpinning Trials
Another short post today, just because I wanted to share a little video with you that I made last week. I was playing around with the idea of Nply (aka navajo Ply aka Chain Ply) and I figured out this way of doing it around a core yarn. Its a lot of fun to do this, and it makes really huge stacks that, because of the chaining, are relatively stable as well. The cool thing is the variations you can get with this, making smaller or larger stacks, using smooth or textured yarns, thick or thin or thick AND thin, even the possibility of adding in...
read moreKnitting? Yes! Made a Cowl
Do I knit? No, not really But this was a really simple project that turned out pretty well, as in, wearable, with no dropped-stitch-holes, and straight edges – a triumph on needles for me! To make this I used some of my super puff thick and thin in white, and a small skein of a blended art yarn (like this one). I also used two mismatched big buttons. It was really simple to make (obviously because ‘I’made it). I cast on about 18-20 stitches and then just knitted (garter stitch) as you would for a straight scarf. I...
read moreLoom Party
Its been such a lovely spring feeling week this week. Blossoms, blue skies, sunshine… aaahhh It was great to get out and take a drive down to Pattys house, especially since I knew she had just taken delivery of a brand new Saori loom! Loom assembly party! I was also looking forward to catching some sun in her lovely garden, and Lucca was quite excited about the duck feeding opportunities. Sally joined us too and after third coffee we got started on the loom. It was something of a brief assembly party, because, apart from Patty undoing...
read moreYarn Fails
Because nobody’s perfect. Because when you mess around with stuff and experiment, sometimes it just doesn’t work. These are the yarns I don’t post on my page! And trust me, I made a couple this last week already. It occured to me today that if I only ever show people my non-fail yarns, it might actually look like I am just always on a roll, and even now, as I write this, I am wondering if I actually am going to post pics of my total mess-up yarns. Ok there is time to decide before I finish writing. The point is, if no one...
read moreSpinning Textured Unicorn Barf
Spinning for texture! That was the mission of todays workshop, and I can confidently say that we nailed it! Just look at this! There were crazy textured batts full of sparkle spun into big and lofty textured yarns, thread plied with gold.. there were fine spun loopy plys, coilplied corespuns, and some stunning lockspun mohair! We finished with a quick demo of spinning objects into yarn, and then the day was over far too soon. We had some real gems though, check out this amazing skein Karen made (who is such a fun person to hang out...
read moreLooming projects
Firstly, if you just want to see a video of how I do a direct warp on my Majacraft loom, just scroll to the end and there it is! Otherwise, read on.. Its been a little while now since I discovered weaving as a new obsession creative pass time. Since then, my house has become a repository for random cones of yarn, baskets of mini skeins and odds and ends off my bobbins. The boys from Belgium (Bart and Francis) with their amazing supply of beautiful, weird, and wonderful threads, keep moving to the top of my ‘shop there’ list,...
read moreBig Assed
Just in case youre looking for something to really get the adrenalin pumping, if you havent found the major sized crafting equipment created and supplied by my spin-sister Christiane and her mate Rob, then today is your lucky day! These gargantuan sized knitting needles and crochet hooks will really take you to the edge of extreme crafting, designed for the fearless by the fearless, these are truly momentous pieces of equipment. You could use these for rug making, funky wall hangings, huge cushions, or dammit, just put these up as decoration...
read moreJazzturtle is coming!
Making a quick post today to share some news. And if youre in the Netherlands, or hailing distance of, you might just want to jump at an opportunity here! June this year sees the return of Esther Rodgers (Jazzturtle) to our flat lands for more amazing workshops! Extra special for me this year because I will also be there to assist her during the FOUR DAY fiber extravaganza! The lovely Alet has been busy organising an amazing stay for us at a wonderful location of Mennorode in the middle of the Veluwe natural park area (which is gorgeous),...
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