Earthwhisper Fiber Arts

I bought some Sari Silk about a year ago off ebay and got a fantastic deal.  When I got it, I was in awe of all of the colors and how beautiful the yarn looked, trying to ignore the terribly musty and icky smell.

I thought it would make a neat clapotis or shawl.  So I casted on for the clapotis.  However, as I was knitting with it, I noticed how dirty it was.  (I have blog posted about this before.)  It took awhile to wind the yarn up into balls, so the thought of winding the balls into a hank and washing them just seemed a waste of my time.

As I would knit with it, my throat would feel scratchy and I would start to think about the possibility of getting some weird illness from dust or dirt from the other side of the world.  Silly, I am sure, but other people handled this yarn and it was dirty.  I would find fingernails and other odd things spun into the yarn.  Gross, but I tried to be open minded.  It is just yarn and these were probably nice people spinning it, but still…

So I put the clapotis down and told myself I will either frog it or one day finish it.

This was over a year ago.

A week ago, I decided that I needed to knit some of my novelty and misc yarns into scarves.  I have a few things I am doing soon where I will need gifts and thought big scarves would be perfect.  I will have to talk about the novelty yarns I used in another blog post.  It is interesting.  But that isn’t what I am posting about today.

I decided to try the Sari Silk yarn again and just make a simple garter stitch/drop stitch scarf.  Again, the yarn was dirty, smelly, and made me squirm.  I knit with size 17 needles and in less than 2 days I had a nice long scarf.  I bound off the scarf and threw it in the washing machine on gentle.

I had read that this yarn softens up real nicely after washing it.   I put it on a long soak.  The washing machine smelled like gasoline.  GASOLINE!  My scarf!!  How crazy is that?  Tony said it smelled like a tire store.  I thought it was gas.  Tony has a bad sense of smell and rarely can smell anything.

After it washed, I looked at it and there was a huge gaping hole.  Not only that, but the yarn some how sealed itself off, so I can’t find the ends.  I have thought of a few ways to fix it, like taking more of that yarn and trying to sew the hole closed.  I don’t know.  That would require me to touch the dirty yarn again.

I suppose I could wind it all into long hanks and wash it…

ps…it is pretty, isn’t it…even with the hole…

The first one is Knitty’s Anouk. It is done in Cotton-ease. You have seen the pics before, just finally found the perfect buttons for it, at Walmart of all places. I have realized there are not a lot of places in my area that sales buttons.

There are some imperfections, but overall I am happy with it. As much as I love cotton-ease (and am excited about its come-back,) I have realized it isn’t very forgiving. It splits easily and when you mess with it it doesn’t spring back.
This next finished project is one you didn’t even know I started, because I am shameful and pretty much broke my September challenge rule. Yes, I lied to you all, but not intentionally. I was crocheting this scarf thinking it would make for a fun beginner’s project for my classes. The first row wasn’t too bad, but the second row took me a couple of nights of crocheting…so it isn’t a 2 hour project to say the least. It was fun, though and makes for a very pretty scarf. It is Patons Curly Q Scarf. It took almost 4 balls of Patons SWS with a size K hook. The pattern calls for an L hook, which I don’t have, so I figured K is next best and would use less yarn.

This next project is one that will be in my beginner’s crochet class. It is a credit card/cash wallet. It is made with Patons Classic Merino with a size H hook. It is very easy. I still wonder if this is pushing it for a 2 hour class, but if I can get them past the button hole then I think it won’t be too bad.
Oh, and too my friend Amy, mentioned I am doing well. I am.! I have lost 10 pounds since I started my vegetarian diet. That isn’t a lot, but it is better than nothing. Tony has lost a lot more than me. My back has been killing me, but I noticed it goes in waves and is because I do things like carry Madeleine on my back and wrestle with the kids.

Dropping that class has made my stress go from a 10 to a 2. Seriously, I didn’t even realized I was that frazzled until in retrospect looking back. I think everyone around me knew it though.

Sierra is doing well, too. She has a “boyfriend” at school and kissed him on the cheek. I told her not to, but she told me she wasn’t in school, so it was okay (we were walking to the truck.) Sigh… He was nice and told me, “it is okay, I like it.” In school she is doing better. Her homework is coming back just fine. She isn’t crying after school and I think overall the teacher and her are communicating better. Either that or she is preoccupied with her “boyfriend” and so isn’t getting upset over the other stuff, I don’t know.

Madeleine has been “rough and tumble” lately. She is skinned up on her knees, on her chin, and has a bruise on her head. She is a little daredevil and is also sometimes clumsy. She is very much a comedian, always looking for a laugh.

She is talking more, full sentences. Though really only Sierra and I understand her. Tony doesn’t. She leaves the ends of words off, still and I am trying to work with her on it. Sometimes she says something to me and I don’t know what she is saying and it is frusterating to both of us. Also, I guess and she acts like I guessed right, but I wonder if she is just faking that and just being happy that I am giving her something.

I am so happy with this. There are so many firsts with this bag. First time using Gentian violet as a yarn dye. First time lining a bag. First time putting grommets on anything. First time putting on a magnetic clasp.

I was going to take pictures as I went along my merry way with this bag, but really it was trial and error.

Error #1 was the first lining I sewed up was too small. I don't know how my measurements were off, but after closer realization, my bag was bigger than I had originally measure.

The second lining I sewed up was…of course…too big. I took in the seams of it by 1/4 inch on each seam and then it was just right. I felt like Goldilocks for a minute.

(Kind of like when I dyed it…first time (after fulling)…bad…second time, too red…third time, just right…)

I put the felted bag inside the inside out lining and then sewed around the top leaving about 3 inches open on the top. Boy, I could have used 5 inches. I had this "a ha" moment as I was wrestling a 1/4 inch thick felted bag through the tiny hole. Seams did rip, but in the end, it was okay. I admit I help my breath for a second.

What I then saw was wonderful purple bliss. I was so happy with the lining of the bag. I then had to go to Walmart to buy some of that plastic canvas stuff so I could fit the magnetic claps on to it, like this. I sewed the plastic canvas with some wool onto the inside of the felted bag, without popping out to the other side. It worked great and really is only enough for support.

Then, I top stitched around the top of the bag, closing the open seam. I used a long large knitting needle and some scissors to make holes along the side of the bag and then used grommets, the grommet tool, and a hammer to put in the grommets. This really was easier than it sounded. Of course, Tony had to do the hammer thing. You all know I can swing a hammer (I use to do some roofing jobs in college.) Just realize he felt he needed to be a part of that.

After the grommets, I cut the leather and braided it. Then, the little bag…I sewed ribbon to the top of the bag, making a casing and threaded another ribbon under it and added some beads to it, making it a little drawstring pouch.

This bag, though I really wish I could keep it, will be auctioned off on Friday at my mother's club to benefit the local children's crisis center. It will be done like a chinese auction, where people tickets and then they put their ticket with the item they want to win. Then there is a drawing for each item. So, the bag will not go for a specific dollar amount, but will still benefit the charity and I think that someone will really enjoy the bag. (Is it wrong for me to put my ticket to get drawn for the bag?)

This is a birthday present for a friend's daughter. The pattern was easy in terms of crochet. I used Bernat Cottontots. I used some leftovers from yarn from past projects, hence the reason the flower is two-toned. The pattern was difficult in seaming it together. Seriously….I won't make another one of these as I hated seaming it up.

This is a crochetdude pattern that you can get, at Lion Brand for free, here.