Habilements Raiments – Garments – Vestments – Clothing – Garb – Costume – Attire – Habits – Drapery

Sun 13 Nov 11

Drawings – Eyes

Filed under: ContourArmature,Drawing,Uncategorized — admin @ 4:17 PM

First, eye straight on and sideways, putting all the outside forms around the globe of the eye

eye1.jpg

Second, sideways, slightly more fleshed out; pupil extends outward from eyeball

eye2.jpg

Third, locate in the skull

eye3-skull.jpg

Observations: need to draw more and remember it is play.

Sat 12 Nov 11

Knitting – Entrelac Scarf

Filed under: Knitting,Spinning,Uncategorized — admin @ 9:36 PM

Got a few rows done on the entrelac scarf; about 2/3 done.

entrelac-scarf-1.jpg

Close-Up of texture:

entrelac-scarf-2.jpg

Composition:

Variegated squares: 2-ply, Handspun commercially-dyed Polwarth Combed Top; 2/3 Brown Suri Alpaca (no crimp) 1/9 Jenny (Border Leicester/Romney Cross) 2/9 Merino (local sheep, name unknown).

Brown squares: 50% Lydia the alpaca (huacaya presumed due to crimp) 50% Opal  Border Leicester/Romney

Observations: Combed top is not as much fun to spin as something I prepared; commercially dyed top colors appeared different at home out of the package ( too much mixing was required to make the colors tolerable); suri alpaca requires an inordinate amount of mixing effort to be able to card; prefer to card and spin huacaya alpaca because it has some crimp; entrelac was difficult to learn but is quick and pleasant once it was figured out; entrelac is a good way to calm down variegated yarn; variegated yarn is too busy for my tastes.

Knitting – Learning New Mitten Pattern

Filed under: Knitting,Spinning,Uncategorized — admin @ 9:24 PM

First the test mittens made of commercial acrylic and cotton:

pink-and-white-mittens1.jpg

Second pair – given away before photographed.

Third pair: First mitten complete.   Uses Natalie (light) and Opal (dark) Border Leicester/Romney Cross handspun.

small-mitten1.jpg

Started second mitten:

start-of-second-small-mitten.jpg

Observations:

Learned stranded/two-color knitting, which makes for a thick, warm mitten; need to learn to spin more consistently, especially between different animals (Opal spun up much thinner than Natalie even though the staple length and breed are the same); fuzzy handspun requires simpler and larger motifs, as details are lost.

Felting – Needle Felt On Sweater

Filed under: Felting,Uncategorized — admin @ 9:13 PM

First try at needle felting.  Tried on a ratty old sweater kept for painting/studio.  Pics in order: Before, After, Close-Up to show dimensionality.

first-needle-felt-sweater-before.jpg

After:

first-needle-felt-sweater-after-1.jpg

Close-Up to show dimensionality:

first-needle-felt-sweater-after-2.jpg

Observations: Fabric failed to felt, apparently has less wool content than I thought; sweater is 80% dead dinosaur/20% angora, but that is apparently enough, and the embellishments penetrated well; non-wool items can be felted down with an overlay of felt (orange yarn over grey fabric).

Felting – Glass Case

Filed under: Felting,Uncategorized — admin @ 9:02 PM

First try at wet felting.  Felted over existing plastic eyeglass case.  Used wool drum carder waste, wool handspun, and commercial wool yarn.  Clear case is an additional case – before felting.

first-wet-felt-glass-case-1.jpg

first-wet-felt-glass-case-2.jpg

Observations: Prefer to wear rubber gloves; fibre must be separated if reached for wet (cannot go back in the bag); need to spend longer felting; use less soap; add soap to make up for rinsing during hot/cold shock stage.

Spinning – BFL Blue Faced Leicester Lamb

Filed under: Spinning,Uncategorized — admin @ 8:53 PM

bfl-spinning1.jpg

Left to right, in order of fineness of preparation: 100% BFL/DrumCarder (wasteful); 50% BFL/50% Jenny Border Leicester/Romney Cross (loss of loft); 100% BFL/Hand Cards (difficult to card); 100% BFL/Combs – Best result, least loss.

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