Plans brewing in mai cauldron

Last week I spent a whole week at a friends house down on the Central Coast.  They had to go away for a week for work and needed someone to mind their little dog.  It was lovely. The area was so peaceful and pretty and I had such a relaxing time.  I'm home now, but I really want to move down that way. lol.

While I was away I had a visitor.  A lady I know from Sydney came to visit me for a spinning, fibre-y sort of day.  We didn't get any spinning done but we chatted lots and we had a lovely lunch.  She very kindly brought some fleece samples with her to show me how to prepare it for spinning or felting.  Some of this fleece is the most delicious silver angora rabbit fur from her pet angora Zorro.  Gorgeously soft stuff.

Zorro bunny fur.  Destined for something very special.

Also, while I was away, I received a large order for art yarn add ins.  So I've spent the last week working on those and they're half done.  They are miniature zombie bunny heads.  They'll be going into some Halloween themed art yarn as soon as they arrive at their destination.  I have finished 20 green and 20 pink, which have already been posted to the recipient. I still have 40 to get done but, gladly, there's no emergency.  That's not to say that I wont get them done as quickly as I can though, because I have other plans for my felting once this order is finished.

I started a cute little halloween themed project of my own just before I got this felting order and have sadly put it aside for now but I wanted to show you progress pics anyway.  I'm calling her 'The Bear Witch Project' and she has cute little accessories including a little cauldron that I've sculpted from polymer clay.  She is not even close to finished but I have big plans for her costume and other little bits and bobs that will be added to her as I go along.  I have to order some glass eyes for her but that will have to wait till next week now.

Bear Witch in pieces

People soup; accessory for the bear witch project

As many of you know, I have been playing with needle felting for a little while now and I've been making cute little cartoon-like critters that I plan to sell.  I stumbled across a website just a week ago showing some amazing work by another needle felt artist and have been inspired to make some larger pieces.  Not the same style of work, in fact, totally different.  But still, the inspiration is there.  Please go check out this award winning artists work by visiting her site.

An even larger part of my inspiration for my next step comes from a lady who sculpts realistic human forms from fabric.  Talk about your ultimate cloth doll making.  She has a book out detailing her technique which is about to go on my wish list with a vengeance. I know I fell off my chair when I first saw  her work, so you may want to wear a seat belt when you check out her mind boggling work here.  Amazing...right?

I've also been doing a little bit of knitting.  Not much mind you as my time has been dedicated to stabbing my fingertips O.o  I had some yarn custom dyed a little while back and have been knitting some awesome socks from it.  The yarn looked amazing when I received it and I was totally in love.  I had NO idea how it was going to look when I knitted it up but I can assure you I never would have considered the gorgeous results I've got here.

Treasure Island colourway dyed by
Charly from Ixchelbunny

Amazing colour pooling.
Both sides of one sock. 
Treasure Island colourway.

I have another colourway that I havent started knitting yet but I have already planned the contrasting toe and heel yarn for it, which coincidentally I dyed last night along with two other colours that are also planned for socks.

Mickey Mouse colourway dyed by
Charly from Ixchelbunny

Left: Galah Pink (toe and heel contrast for mickey mouse)
Centre and right: Opal (toe and heel contrast) and purple - next pair of socks

Now, for the fibre and yarn fans out there.  I have also been madly adding to my stash of yarn and fibre, even though I obviously dont have much time to knit right now.  You can never have too much yarn, or fibre...apparently.  I've also received my first installment of my spindle club.

Whorled Domination
Spindle club spindle
Rosewood Lacquered Shaft
with 40mm Red Howlite Whorl - 36g

Spindle club fibre:
100g Angorino from
Ixchelbunny - colourway Jewels

Ixchelbunny Sock it to me Sock Yarn Club
50/50 Merino/Silk 4ply
Mermaid

Ixchelbunny Fibre Club #3
GaGa Bunny x 200g
Mermaid Song

Ixchelbunny 50/50 Merino/Silk 4ply
Purple Haze

Ixchelbunny BFL/Cashmere
Loch Ness

Ixchelbunny BFL/Cashmere
Spin Diva

Rabbitworks Fibre Studio
Lace weight Merino
Aubergine

A sample of EGMTKs newest Beastie Blend
Merino/Glitz.  Northern Lights.  LOVE this!
Sadly, photo does not do it justice.

Yes, yes.  I've been buying up a storm :oP  There is much more on the way.  I love clubs. :oD

Hopefully I'll get this felting order finished fairly quickly because I'm super keen to get started on developing my ideas for larger sculptures.  Watch this space ;o)

Trindle adventures

I'm entering a competition over on Ravelry where the requirement is to make a spindle from found, re-purposed or recycled materials.  I have been looking around the web at different types of spindles for a while and have been lusting after a trindle from trindleman on etsy for ages.  So I decided that I would try to make one myself.

I gathered up my materials.  A bamboo chopstick for the shaft, a paper clip for the hook, an old knitting needle and some beads for the arms, some nail polish from my days as a nail tech and some polymer clay that I'd bought nearly a year ago for sculpting.

First I sanded the chopstick till it was more or less round.  Then I cut the paperclip to size and drilled a small hole in the top of the shaft, glued it in place and re-bent it into the correct shape.

I then painted the shaft with black nail polish and gave it a good thick coat of glass gloss top coat to give it a nice finish.

 

Then I took my old 1.5mm knitting needle that I never use and cut it into equal lengths, gluing beads and silver charms from my huge stitch marker making stash to the ends to act as weights.

The next step was building the centre of the whorl.  I formed a basic disc from polymer clay for this trindle because its pretty much a prototype and to be honest, I was feeling a bit lazy.  If I make another trindle I think I'll try and use something that has a bit more weight to it for the centre piece.  I had to do a bit of math to find the exact centre for drilling a hole for the shaft and the arm spaces.

Part of the competition is that I have to submit a small sample skein of yarn that has been spun on the spindle so that was my next step after all the glue dried.

And here is my result.  A home made 20g trindle that actually works :oD  I'm calling this a success.

Long overdue

Its been quite a while since I updated, I know.  And this post is long overdue, but again, I've had a lot of stuff going on.  I've recently been diagnosed with diabetes and this has had a rather serious impact on other areas of my health and is kind of taking it out of me.  I must be truly getting old :oP

My 41st birthday has come and gone.  No biggie in itself, but I did receive some welcome and much appreciated fibre gifts from the amazing Charly for my birthday.  She is such a naughty bunny.

some lovely bunny bling, silk hankies, some of my new
favourite Ixchel blend; GaGa Bunny and some cute badges.

For the month of July I participated in an annual Ravelry event called the Tour De Fleece.  It was an interesting exercise.  I was powering along quite well and then unfortunately my favourite spinning wheel threw a bolt and became unusable.  This had actually happened once before and my partner had managed to fix it so it wasn't the end of the world but the new repair job didn't hold and had to be re-done which took a bit of time so it was the end of the TDF for me.  Which was kind of sad, but also good because it prompted me to make the decision to buy a brand new state of the art spinning wheel.  Which arrived a week ago :oD  Also, my trusty traveler is now fixed again and has been lovingly put back into service.

My new wheel is a Majacraft Aura.  It's totally different from either of the wheels I already own and it is a bit of a challenge adjusting to the new style of drive and tension.  But I'm quickly adapting and have already made some yarn on it.  I think, given a bit of time, this wheel will be my go to for everything.  I'll still keep my beloved traveler and traddy though, as they have such sentimental value and I will still spin on them while I'm learning to drive my new beastie.  Here is a pic of my lovely new beastie, which is unnamed at present but will be decorated and named soon enough.

Majacraft Aura:
a thing of wonder :oD

the second skein of yarn off my new wheel

I've bought a couple of new spindles, one 10g and a cute little turkish spindle that I'm totally in love with. And I've joined a spindle club.  I'll be expecting my first installment (which is actually a gift for my sister) in October I believe.

10g lace weight spindle

Teensy turkish spindle. 
There are definitely more of these in my near future

I've also been doing a fair bit of unselfish knitting.  I made a couple of scarves for people and then made a surprise shawl for the lovely Mandie over at Ewe Give Me the Knits.  Mandie is an incredibly professional woman and has always given me the best service imaginable.  She also is a first class enabler and was super helpful when it came to ordering my new wheel.  So I made the shawl as a humble gesture of thanks.  I'm glad to say that she received it and loves it.  Nothing is quite as gratifying as knowing you've given a gift that actually brings joy to the recipient :oD

Secret squirrel shawl for Mandie
made from handspun EGMTK club fibre
Merino/black bamboo - solar flare

I'm currently knitting an epic shawl for myself also.  Its the most gorgeous pattern (spring awakening on Ravelry by Paulina Popiolek).  I'm probably about halfway through so will hopefully be posting a pic of it soon.

So as you can see, there has been lots going on.  My health has had to become my main focus lately though which is why I haven't been updating.  I hope to get it all under control soon so I can post a bit more regularly.

Pass me a pillow

I've been caught up in lots of different things lately.   No different from usual I guess.  It was my birthday yesterday, not much of a big deal there but I seem a bit tired for some reason, maybe I'm getting old :oP 

Here's what I've been up to...

I have a cape that I'm supposed to be knitting for a friend but haven't stumbled upon the right idea for that yet, but at least I have the yarn.

I have a lovely lace shawl that I'm making for myself that I have been working on sporadically.  

I've been doing a bit of spinning and collecting some purdy fibres.

I made a groovy superhero drawing in illustrator to cheer up my friend Charly who has lost most of her fur-babies recently.  

And in the last few days I've been painting and drawing up a storm.  You can see the results of that here. :oD

Jeez, I've been busy...no wonder I'm so pooped :oP

What's in a name & Bastards Incorporated.

Things have been fairly relaxed here of late which has allowed me lots of crafting time.  I have just finished knitting a pair of incredibly warm gloves for the fast approaching winter.

Pattern: Knotty by Julia Muelle
see more photos here

I've made another felted critter; this time a little purple girl bunny.  She's not quite finished as I want to make some little accessories to go with her but she will be the first felted critter I list for sale.  I'll be developing a new website/blog just for my little felties and as soon as I make a decision about what to call it, I'll put a link up so that readers can take a look.  If you have any suggestions regarding what I should call my new site, please feel free to let me know :oD

I've been spinning a fair bit too and have finished a skein of pure black and a skein of rainbow coloured yarn which I plan to use to make a pair of stranded gloves.  I wont start those for a little while because I have other commitments just now.

Sad news; my favourite bunny lady lost most of her flock on the 31st of May to Calici.  She has lost all but two of her stud-males and at last count; a total of eight of her beloved fur babies have died from a disease that was deliberately introduced by the Australian government (who I like to refer to as Bastards Inc.) to cull wild rabbits.  Seven years of selective breeding gone in one afternoon.  It boggles the mind.  Worse yet; there is minimal vaccination available for pet rabbits in this country, another bright decision made without considering that there are pet owners out there who might suffer from it.  Never mind that for someone like Charly, this will also affect her livelihood in a truly devastating way.   

Its often so hard to find the right words to give comfort at a time like this so I decided to let my actions speak for me.  I have started spinning up a huge chunk of my sadly minimal stash that I've purchased or won from her and I will donate it back to her so she can sell it at the Bendigo Wool Show in order to raise money for the bunny recovery fund. I only hope that my contribution helps Charly to recover from the financial hit in some small way.