Crafting Chaos

Patchwork sewing machine cover

I love my Singer sewing machine but the plastic cover was boring and was starting to wear out.

I made a patchwork cover to replace it:

This is some of the last of my upholstery samples. That box of samples has served me through so many sewing projects.

It fits really well and I think it looks adorable.

My favorite part is the opening I made for the thread spool. That way I can leave it on when I put the machine away.

Add comment May 31st, 2009

Handspun blue yarn

Recently I spun up some more fleece that I bought at the Taos Wool Fest last year. This is six ounces of churro from Fiber Studio and Supply.

I decided to do a two ply yarn. My challenge this time was to keep it as consistent as possible. I got around 100 yards.

A close up:

I had some leftover yarn on one bobbin. I also had some leftover acrylic yarn from this ball:

I plied up the two and it turned out nicely:

Another close up:

Add comment May 30th, 2009

Sieben pics

I took this picture of Sieben the other day.

He’s gotten so big. I looked through his puppy pics and found this cute one:

Back then I used to be able to pick him up. We think he’s around 100 pounds now. One thing hasn’t changed-he’s still a cutie.

Add comment May 29th, 2009

Me, my Mother and Endometriosis

Abbey and I both have mother issues. We decided to do an “art along” to work out our feelings.

I’m going to journal the progression of my mother art piece. In addition I’m going to journal my emotional journey with this piece. My Mother entries likely won’t be upbeat or fun. But at least there will be art in progress pics!

I have Endometriosis. So does my Mother. I’ve known I’ve had Endo for a few years now. It’s a weird condition. You could say it’s a disease. I don’t. I prefer thinking of it as a condition, like asthma. It’s not known what causes Endo and treatments are all over the place.

What is it? Here’s how I understand Endo. Basically, bits of the uterus lining back up through the fallopian tubes, leave the womb and enter into the body. These bits then attach themselves to other parts of the body. Somehow they’re still affected by the woman’s hormonal cycle. When the rest of the lining is shedding itself during the menstrual cycle these stray bits swell up and cause pain because they’re not in the right place.

My Mother apparently had the worst case of Endo her doctor had ever seen. She had a hysterectomy when she was 33. I’m 33 now. This year my period has changed. I’m now spotting for a week after my normal period stops. The matching ages feels important. I’ve done therapy about my issues before but this feels deeper. It’s as if I’m healing the little girl Twi instead of just dealing with the situation.

Currently I’m getting acupuncture to treat my Endo. It’s helping. I’m also doing energy work. That’s why Abbey made me the meditation mat. And now I’m making art about me, my Mother and Endometriosis.

I’m going to try to use as much recycled material as I can. As I told Abbey-we’re working with the materials we have just like we’re working with the mothers we have. I sewed a bunch of felt scrap pieces together to create raw canvas.

My art piece will be a womb. The Endo is one of the few things that still connects me to my Mother. She disowned me when I was 18.

The seams look like scars to me. They seem so fitting. Eventually they’ll be covered up with several layers. I want to recreate them in some fashion on the top layer.

My Mother and I’s relationship is so centered around pain. When one of us was ready to give love the other one gave back pain. Both of us are guilty of it.

It is hard to write about my Mother. It’s hard to make this art. When I was assembling this piece I felt things moving around in my womb area. I will find healing through this but it likely will be a rough ride along the way.

My working title for the piece is “Through Our Pain We Find Love”.

3 comments May 28th, 2009

Meditation mat

I’ve been doing some energy work. Abbey made me a meditation mat for my woo woo. I love it!

Merce helped with it too. It’s made of felt and knitting and is so comfortable to sit on.

Prana absolutely loves it. He regularly sleeps there and we play with his mousie on it. The last time Abbey was over he rubbed up against her to say thanks.

Sometimes when I do my energy work I have to work around him because Prana won’t budge. He’s so cute though so I don’t mind.

1 comment May 28th, 2009

New sock

I’ve started a new sock using my Tofutsies sock yarn that I bought at the Needle’s Eye in Santa Fe.

I recently got Wendy Johnson’s new book Socks from the Toe Up. What a great book! I’ve started the Lace and Cables socks:

The lace pattern is cute. I’m not so sure about the slip stitch cables on the side. But I want to try new stitches so I’m just going with it.

The yarn is interesting to work with. It’s a little splitty but slides across the needles nicely. It feels very lightweight which makes me think these will make great summer socks.

Add comment May 27th, 2009

Swift cozy

I made a cozy for my Swift out of a pair of old yoga pants. Prana wanted to be in the photo shoot.

Basically I cut the pants in half and used one leg for the cozy. I sewed up the bottom and made a hem at the opening.

I sewed a little tie for the end.

The pants had cute embroidery on the bottom. The flowers are on both sides.

2 comments May 22nd, 2009

Stringing the loom

Recently I strung up the loom for the first time. I used some Peruvian yarn a friend brought me back from her vacation. I got a little help:

Prana was in a cuddly mood:

This is just a practice run. I like my results so far:

2 comments May 19th, 2009

Handspun Fisherman Shrug

I finished the Fisherman Shrug and just love it! It fits great.

A view of the back. I knit the back piece in the large size and the arms in medium.

When I knit up a swatch I didn’t get gauge. But I just knew my handspun yarn would work for this pattern. I played around with needle size until my swatch looked good. Then I just went for it. The arms fit the dimensions. I had to reknit the back and triangles in larger sizes.

The shrug seemed like it needed a closure. I went to Common Threads, the lovely fabric store in Taos, for buttons because I always have good luck there. Instead of buttonholes I just push the buttons through the ribbing.

The bind off needed to be loose so I employed my google fu to find a loose way to do it. I found directions via Pins and Needles. Her directions worked great.

A close up of the sleeve. I only did four inches of ribbing.

This yarn is from some brown and white fleece that my friend Meredith gave me.

The yarn looked like this:

A close up:

I blogged about making they yarn in this post. The shrug took about 400 yards. I have three balls left.

Pattern: Fisherman Shrug
Source: Lion Brand Yarn
Yarn: my handspun yarn, brown and white variegated, approximately 400 yards, 5 WPI
Needles: 9.0 mm needles
Size: part medium, part large
Modifications: several-see above
Started: February 2009
Finished: May 2009

1 comment May 13th, 2009

Green Churro yarn

I bought this lovely green churro fleece at last year’s Wool Fest.

Unfortunately the dye bled. After I finished running it through the drum carder my fingers were blue. I spun it up and again my fingers became blue. I washed it with white vinegar and think I saved the dye. More blue came out, it’s not as vibrant in yarn form but hey, it’s still green.

I contacted the vendor and was told that this sometimes happens, even with commercial yarn. Sigh. It’s not like I was expecting a refund since I had already manipulated the fleece. But I would have appreciated an “I’m so sorry about that.” Thankfully this is the only fleece I bought from her. Needless to say, I won’t be buying from this vendor again. To her credit she did give me some washing tips. However, I’ve never had a commercial yarn or fleece bleed dye this bad.

I spun this yarn up as a bulky single yarn. Doing singles is much more difficult. It’s not nearly as consistent as I’d like. But it was good practice.

Since Churro is so scratchy I’m saving this for a bag project.

Add comment May 12th, 2009